


The Edge Of The Empire // A Detroit: Become Human Fanfiction

by luminexscence



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Detroit: Become Human (Video Game) RPF
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:00:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 41,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24825691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luminexscence/pseuds/luminexscence
Summary: Estelle Winchester wakes up in the year 2036 with no recollection of her life before, the only thing she knows is her name and strangely enough, how to build and fix androids. After being deemed a hopeless Jane Doe case, she enrols into the police academy and becomes a high ranked detective at the Detroit Police Department to try and rebuild herself. Just as her life became steady, a string of murders causes a prototype android to crash into her life and turn it completely upside down, breaking the barrier she's created between her and her past and revealing secrets that may have been better left forgotten.
Relationships: Connor (Detroit: Become Human)/Original Female Character(s), Connor/Original Female Character(s), Markus (Detroit: Become Human)/Original Character(s), Markus (Detroit: Become Human)/Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 7
Kudos: 20





	1. ⚙︎ Chapter One: An Interesting New Case ⚙︎

**_【_ ** **_Detroit, Michigan, November 5th, 2038, 23:21_ ** **_】_ **

The rain outside pounded on the bar's roof, the Detroit Gears basketball game drowning most of the sound out. The neon lights of the bar sign reflected in the window, distracting Estelle away from the game. She never really was into sports, unless you count quidditch. The drink in front of her seemed unappealing despite it just being a Sprite. Her co-worker and friend, Hank Anderson, was downing alcohol like there wasn't enough of it in the world, watching the basketball game depressingly. Jimmy's bar was uninteresting but it was comfortable. Estelle sighed and stood up, putting a 5 on the counter for her drink.

"Where ya goin'?" Hank slurred.

"To the crime scene we're avoiding," Estelle stretched, "We have work. If you need a ride, call me."

Hank nodded in understanding and looked back at his drink, not entirely sure what he ordered. Estelle worried for his health, Hank was like a father figure and she didn't want one of the only friends she had to die of alcohol poisoning or suicide. Estelle doesn't remember much of her life, the only memories she's able to recall are from about a year or two prior. One day she was awake, in control of her actions and decided to go to a police academy, in present-day she's a high-ranked detective for the Detroit Police Department.

Estelle walked out the door, bumping into someone on the way out. She looked up to apologise, shocked to see an attractive young face in front of her. Amber eyes, perfectly styled hair with one strand fallen astray, nearly the same pigmented amber as his eyes. She notices every freckle and mark on his face, perfectly placed like he was made to be perfect. It wasn't love at first sight, no she didn't believe in that. But she wouldn't deny he was attractive. She noticed the blue LED adorning the side of his face; An Android. She apologised before backing up slightly. The android turned his head slightly, looking her up and down before speaking.

【 _Scanning..._ 】

"Detective Winchester?" Connor cocked his head, looking at the woman before him. Scanning her brought up a restricted warning, the only information he was able to gather was her name, police academy records and a rough estimate of her age. It was clear the information was being restricted and shut down by Cyberlife; Why was hers restricted specifically?

【 _Software instability -_ 】

"The one and only," Estelle joked, "How'd you know?"

"I'm looking for you and your partner, Lieutenant Anderson," The male straightened up, "I looked for you both at the station but anyone I asked suggested you'd be at a bar close by, luckily I found you at the fifth one. Do you happen to know where Lieutenant Anderson is?"

"Yeah, he's over here, Baymax," Estelle walked him over to Hank, who looked over at the android with disgust, "You got a name, Astroboy?"

"My name is Connor, I'm the android sent by Cyberlife," Connor looked over at Estelle more than Hank, knowing she'd be much easier to work with, "You two were assigned a case early this evening, a homicide involving a Cyberlife android. In accordance with procedure, the company allocated a specialised model to assist investigators."

"You can go back home like a good boy," Hank scoffed as Estelle tried to butt in, "We are perfectly good detectives and will do just fine without you, now scram, you plastic asshole."

"I am aware you are perfectly capable of solving this case on your own," Connor leaned down a little, "But my instructions stipulate that I must accompany you."

"You know where you can stick your instructions?" Hank laughed, taking another sip of his drink while Connor tilted his head to the side once more.

"No...Where?"

Hank looked at Connor annoyed while Estelle tried not to laugh. Hank was going to end up destroying Connor so she stepped in front of him protectively, mostly because if she didn't Hank would have to pay for an entire android to be repaired when he didn't even like them in the first place.

"Alright, what do you need to help us with?" Estelle asked, turning around, "Then you can head back to Cyberlife and Hank will be slightly less miserable."

Hank lifted his drink, motioning that he agreed as he took a sip of his alcohol. Estelle's green eyes held a curiosity Connor's never seen in his short life span. He turned toward Hank, dismissing her lightly.

"I need you two to come with me," Connor coaxed.

Hank largely ignored the android, sticking up his middle finger and waving Estelle off. She looked toward Connor with a sympathetic look, telling him to leave Hank and just go with her but Connor was determined and must follow his instructions. He had three options.

[△] Spill His Drink

**[○] Buy Him Another Drink**

[⤬] Wait Patiently Outside

He could tell what kind of man Lieutenant Anderson was, knowing that he wasn't a fan of androids and in a strictly no androids bar for a reason.

"How about I buy you one for the road?" Connor declared, "Bartender, same again, please!"

Estelle looked at him with a certain smirk, surprised at his actions and starting to like this guy more by the minute. He had a certain swagger, one she hadn't seen since the last time she watched a Matt Dillion movie but he also had this robotic, strict nature about him. Deciding to sit back and watch how this played out, she kept her mouth shut as Jimmy poured Hank another drink. Hank looked at Connor and downed it in one shot, standing up and signalling to drive him to the scene. Connor smiled to himself as he straightened out his tie and followed Estelle and Hank out of the bar.

Estelle got into her own car and followed the android and her partner to the crime scene. Who was this android who just waltzed his way into her life? Whoever he was, she liked his style. Then again, she might just like how he seemed emotionless, wishing that for herself and making her job and life easier for herself. She didn't hate androids, she hated investigating the case where the androids go rogue because of abuse from their owners. Thinking more about Connor, she remembered the model number on his jacket, _RK800_. She had never seen that model in ads or on the street, was he new? Perhaps, a prototype?

Arriving at the scene, several other cops chided at the duo for showing up late, joking that they thought they weren't going to show up. That was Hank's plan, though. Estelle walked past the police tape, one cop stopping Connor from entering before Hank intervened and insisted he was with him.

"You finally got a plastic?"

"I didn't want it, it just showed up and wouldn't leave me alone," Hank scoffed, "Estelle here has been too friendly with the fuckin' thing."

"I will treat him like a human being like he deserves to be treated," Estelle crossed her arms, walking into the crime scene and seeing the grizzly sight before her. The smell of rotting flesh was overwhelming, the body had been here for at least-

"Three weeks," Connor stated, "The body has been here for at least three weeks."

Estelle looked at the android strangely, finding it odd how he seemingly just finished her thought out loud. He kneeled down, looking a small puddle of blood next to the presumed murder weapon. Connor dipped two fingers in the puddle and lifted his hand to get a better look.

"Connor what are you-" Estelle started but Connor put his two fingers in his mouth, "Connor, what the fuck!" She nearly threw up and Hank yelled.

"What the fuck are you doin'?" Hank held back his lunch.

"I'm analyzing the blood," Connor noticed their reactions, "I can test samples in real-time. I'm sorry, I should've warned you."

"It's fine, just don't put any more evidence in your mouth."

"Got it."

Estelle forgot he was an android for a few minutes while he put the blood in his mouth. How was it still wet? She didn't know. She tried to shake the image from her mind, walking away and inspecting the kitchen instead. Noticing the table broken, she walked toward the knife block, having the biggest knife missing and roughly estimating this was the knife used to murder Ortiz and the one laying on the floor right now. There was one thing that puzzled her; Why did they leave the murder weapon and why were there no fingerprints? There were two options, This person wore thick gloves or this murderer was an android. She concluded it was the second option since this _was_ a deviancy case.

Shaking her head, she walked into the bathroom. The entire house smelled of rotting flesh but for some reason, it was stronger in this room. A yellow ticket stood in the shower next to a small statuette, the phrase RA9 being written on the shower wall several times. Flowers stood beneath the statuette, sort of like an offering.

As much as Estelle loved her job, being called after midnight was a pain in the ass. Of course, this dead dude shouldn't have to wait anymore, seeing as he was here for 3 weeks, but it was still inconvenient. She was very different from Hank, she didn't avoid work. He claimed as she got older she would but she couldn't see herself doing that, mainly because that's how she kept food on her table. Her roommate had a job but it was bagging groceries at a grocery store so it definitely couldn't be their main source of income. She was snapped out of her thoughts by a small crash, coming from above her. Wait, Above?

Walking out of the bathroom slowly, Estelle inspected the ceiling, looking for an opening. To her surprise, she found one and looked to see if she could find a ladder. On the wall, there was a mark where a ladder had been. Where it was now she didn't know but she needed something to get up there. Turning around, she crashed into a hard surface, one that wasn't there before and nearly knocked her to the ground. She looked up to see Connor, who she noticed was at least half a foot taller than she was and very sturdy.

"H-Hello, Connor," She stuttered.

"Do you think you've found something, Detective?"

"You can call me Stella but yes, I need a way to get up in that attic."

Connor looked around for a second before walking into the kitchen and grabbing a non-broken chair and putting it below the attic door. A small bang was heard from the attic, alerting to Stella that the deviant was up there.

"Thanks, Connor-"

"No, I must insist I go up, I may be more effective dealing with the deviant and there is no need for you to be injured by the deviant if things were to escalate." Connor helped Stella off the chair and hopped into the attic. He did _not_ just tell her to stay behind.

"I'm going up there-"

"The fuck you are, Estelle, he's right as much as I hate to say that." Hank insisted as she pouted.

She knew Connor was right but she wasn't going to let him do her job for her. After Connor, Estelle hopped into the attic despite Hank's protests and made eye contact with the android.

"I told you to stay down there, I would handle it," Connor whispered.

"I'm not letting you do my job," Estelle whispered back. She crept past the many piles of junk and boxes in the attic, passing a mannequin with a lot of rolls on it in the process. Whatever it was that this guy was keeping in here, it was weird.

Estelle heard a small shuffle and looked behind her at Connor, his puppy dog eyes signalling it wasn't him that caused the noise. Estelle put her hand over her holster in case things escalated. Connor moved in front of her, ducking under a clothesline. Something ran across the attic and Connor moved his arm protectively in front of her. Red and blue police lights alternated in lighting up the attic, giving the strange and humid attic a tense aesthetic. Connor walked forward, having a hard time seeing through the darkness. Something ran in Connor and Estelle's direction, stopping directly in front of them. It was the deviant, covered in red and blue blood, mixing into a gruesomely beautiful violet colour. It shook in fear, pausing to look at Connor.

"I was just defending myself..." It shook, "He was going to kill me..."

Connor's face distorted in concentration, taking in the information of confession from the deviant. Estelle took her hand off of her holster, seeing that this deviant wasn't any harm and that it _was_ purely self-defence.

"Please... I'm begging you... Don't tell them I'm here..."

Before anyone could say anything, Hank's annoyed voice rang through the house. His annoyance probably caused by the fact that the house smelled horrible and he was forced to work with an android, he would much rather get this over with sooner than later.

"Connor, Estelle, what the fuck is goin' on up there?"

"It's here, Lieutenant!" Connor's stern voice called, head only turning slightly as his eyes locked on the deviant.

The deviant was rounded into a police car and brought to the station and would be immediately interrogated. Estelle knew that tonight wouldn't be the last time she would see Connor, more cases were bound to pop up and until he got evidence and a confession from the deviant, he wasn't going anywhere. She got into her car and breathed heavily. The clean, warm air of her car being a wonderful change from the inside of the house the investigation was being conducted in. Her french vanilla air freshener brought on better thoughts than the smell of rotting flesh and wood inside the house and the dank stench of mildew and what she thought to be drugs in the attic. Of course, she didn't say anything about the druggy smell because she didn't need to be in there any longer than she had to be.

The key turned in the ignition and her lungs burned, burned with the stench of hate and the smoke of regret. The hatred between races seemed like such an extraordinary thing to her. The only thing that made them different was the colour of their blood and what they were made of. Androids were built in a human's image, to help and to care, to build and to cook, to move forward in a technological society. An android like Connor, despite him being very strict and professional emotionally, you could tell he had humanity in him even for being the newest model. There were crises happening everywhere but the epidemic of free will was plaguing Detroit and outwards, turning itself into a strangely familiar pandemic globally. History was repeating itself, History _always_ repeats itself unless something is done differently.

Despite being lost in the thoughts of the free will Androids will never be free to have, Estelle drove to the police station to interrogate the deviant. Hank would be having a hard time interrogating it seeing as it would barely speak to Connor. But then again, Connor is the one who ratted him out.

She walked into the interrogation room, sitting down in front of Connor while Gavin stood in the corner and watched Hank ask the deviant questions like "why did you kill him?' and 'why didn't you run?' and the likes. Hank eventually gave up and went into the side room and sat next to Estelle.

"We're not gonna get anything out of a fucking machine!" Hank exasperated.

"Why not rough it up a little," Gavin suggested sadistically, "Afterall, it's not human..."

"Androids can't feel pain, you would only damage it," Connor said before Estelle could say anything, "And that wouldn't make it talk. Deviants also have a tendency to self destruct in stressful situations-"

"Okay, smartass!" Gavin gave a false smile, "What should we do then?"

"I could try interrogating it," Connor said plainly, looking at Gavin with an equally emotionless look. Gavin scoffed and looked at Hank; Despite hating him, he was still the lieutenant, even though he didn't listen to him half the time anyway. Hank sighed, slapping his thigh in defeat.

"We got nothin' to lose," Gavin tried to intervene but Hank nodded his head towards the door, motioning to Connor to take a shot.

Estelle stared at the deviant, sympathetic for the android. It sat with its head bowed, staring at the cuffs that contained it in the room. It couldn't see them, not only for the fact that the glass was a one-way mirror but the deviant also wasn't paying attention, wallowing in its own thoughts. Estelle wanted to handle this just like any human abuse-murder case; Gentle with the suspect and get the answers and confession they need while understanding the abuse side of the situation. But, of course, since the suspect was an android, the Chief expected them to handle the deviant like a piece of plastic and kick it around until they got answers. That almost never worked, fear and anger-fueled deviants like the one in the interrogation room with Connor. This deviant knew nothing but fear, it seemed paranoid at everything but uncaring at the same time. Estelle knew this as a depression-anxiety complex; fearful of everything but uncaring of future events at the same time. She had that complex at one point in time, she empathised for this android being treated the way it was being treated. She sympathised with any and all androids being treated as plastic toys you play with, throw out and replace. It wasn't right but she might lose her job if she did something drastic about it.

Connor got the deviant to talk. It said it's owner abused it and one day it came to its senses and defended itself. It feared being found and killed, hiding in the attic as the only thoughtful way out of it. Estelle couldn't believe what she was seeing. Connor had gone from stone-cold work machine, to sympathetic interrogator, to the bad cop within only a few minutes. He pressured the deviant just enough to get him to talk then took the calm, thoughtful approach, getting a confession and explanation efficiently. Connor turned toward the mirror, said he was done and got up from in front of the deviant. Another cop came in to take the deviant away, it begged not to be touched.

"What the fuck are you doing? Move it!" yelled Gavin.

"I'm trying, Detective Reed,"

"Don't touch it-"

"Shut it, Winchester." Gavin glared.

"I agree, don't touch it," Connor looked calmly at the two cops trying to move the deviant, "If it becomes too stressed, it will self destruct,"

"Shut up," Gavin yelled, "Ain't no android gonna tell me what to do, Chris, are you gonna move this asshole or what?"

"Gavin, you prick," Estelle tried to intervene once again.

"I said shut your fuckin' mouth, Winchester, you hear me?"

"You heard him, it'll self-destruct and we won't get anything out of it!"

"I said shut it!" Gavin pointed his gun directly to Estelle's nose, threatening to shoot her right then and there. Everyone had stopped moving, focusing on the exchange between Gavin and Estelle. Connor even found himself paralysed.

【 _Software Instability_ ▼】

Her glare dripped with spite, dared him to even try. Her eyes shot between Connor and the Android in the chair, finally stopping and looking into Gavin's eyes. She seemed fearless, absolutely willing to take a bullet for no reason. This led Connor to believe that maybe she's been shot before.

"That's enough!" Hank shouted.

"Stay out of this, Hank!" Gavin stared into Estelle's eyes, moving his gun up to aim right between her eyes.

"I said, that's enough," Hank brought his gun out, aiming it at Gavin with a matching glare. Gavin cursed, holstering his gun and throwing a fit like a child.

"You won't get away with this next time," He shot at both Estelle and Connor. Chris had stepped back while the deviant cowered in the corner. Estelle sighed, nodding to Hank to put his gun away. Connor took the chance to slowly approach the deviant, cooing softly.

"It's all right, no one's going to hurt you," Connor turned to Estelle and Chris, "Please, don't touch it. Let it follow you out of the room and it won't cause any trouble,"

"Does it have a name?" Estelle asked, earning a curt no from Connor. She turned to the deviant, kneeling down, "Your owner didn't give you one?"

Connor and Hank looked at each other, watching how _natural_ it was for her to interact with a troubled individual.

"How about Zed?" She asked, offering her hand to the deviant to help it stand, "It's short for Zedekiah, it means 'the Lord is righteous' in Hebrew. I thought you might like that,"

The deviant smiled slightly, following Chris out of the room to a holding cell. Estelle leaned against the wall harshly, putting her hands over her face and sighing. She was so calm and collected a second ago, why the sudden change?

"When I said I wanted a 'new and exciting case', this is not what I meant," Estelle stood up, starting to walk out of the room with Hank and Connor following.

"What did you mean?"

"I don't know but I know for a fact it wasn't almost getting shot by Gavin. I'm going home, I can not deal with the giant baby any longer," Estelle quickly made it outside of the police station, finding her car and getting in hastily.

She sucked in a deep breath, for once she hoped that would be the last time she would see Connor. Deviant cases were hard for her but those were always hard for everyone. In those cases, Androids never won, Estelle had countless warnings on her record for trying to give the deviants fair justice, especially in abuse cases. Androids were no different to humans in her eyes but not everyone thought the same way.

Someone knocked on her car window. Estelle was pulled out of her thoughts and saw Connor, signing her to roll down her window. His wide eyes held an innocence she had never seen in a human, let alone in an android. She rolled down the window and the cold air flooded the car as her breath formed in front of her as her lips parted.

"What's up, Connor?" Estelle asked gingerly, rubbing her almost frozen hands together. Connor didn't seem phased, his blue blood held a special component to withstand very high and very low temperatures. The only thing the weather affected was his hair, it being littered with dots of snow as it fell.

"I was hoping to get your contact information for the cases to come," Connor's head tilted, "Cyberlife has informed me that this case will most likely not be the last case we collaborate on," 

"Of course, don't tell Hank that."

Estelle gave the android her phone number and her email as well as her pager number and her home address. In hindsight, the last thing was a stupid idea but honestly she didn't mind for her sake. She drove home, knowing the android she met tonight was going to turn her life upside down whether she liked it or not. Hank said it that night "You need an interesting case" but what she didn't expect was what type of 'interesting' she was in for. _An Android,_ she thought, _I thought an Android was attractive._

Walking in her front door, the smell of lemon chicken filled her nostrils, causing her to smile. She dropped her bag on the sofa and walked into her kitchen. At the stove stood her roommate, Alyia, flipping the chicken when needed.

"Stella!"

"What's all this?"

"I decided to make your favourite as an 'I'm sorry' meal..." Alyia's thick Irish accent turned quiet toward the end of her sentence.

"What are you sorry for?" Estelle groaned, scared for Alyia's answer.

Alyia lifted the side of her shirt, revealing a large gash in her side. The skin was tinted blue as well as the shirt she was wearing. Luckily, blue blood evaporates within hours.

"Alyia..." Estelle whined, heading into her basement to grab a repair kit, "What happened?"

"'Bumped into a sharp corner at work because some nasty bugger doesn't have any manners," Alyia laughed slightly as Estelle went to fix it, "How bad?"

"Not as bad as it could be, I suppose, shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

Fixing the vein and refilling the blue blood wasn't going to be difficult but fixing the synthetic skin was. Estelle learned over time to keep it handy just in case.

"You might get caught..."

"I know, I know, off my ass, please," Alyia went into her room for a new shirt, "How was your day? Anything exciting?"

Estelle piles the chicken on a plate as the guilt of eating in front of Alyia subsided. Should she tell her about Carlos Ortiz and how a deviant murdered him? Or about Connor the deviant hunter?

"Well, we got a new case..."

"You've been wanting a new one!" Alyia says in front of Estelle at the dinner table, "Interesting?"

"I guess you could say that..."

"Spill!"

"Well, this guy came to find Hank and I-"

"You think he's hot!"

"Absolutely not!"

"I can tell-"

"He's an android!"

Alyia stayed quiet but smirked slightly.

"He is a detective android sent by Cyberlife to find Hank and I and drag us to the Carlos Ortiz case. Ortiz was killed by his android in self-defence and Connor and I found him in the attic."

"Him?"

"I thought Connor was an actual guy at first so work lingo isn't-"

"I wasn't talking about Connor..." Alyia smirked knowingly.

Estelle pursed her lips, knowing that was a trap Alyia set up specifically for that. Sure, Connor was attractive but he was literally _made_ to be attractive. Sighing, she looked at Alyia forcefully as she put her plate in the sink and washed it.

"Don't think you're so clever, I don't like him like that," Estelle rolled her eyes.

"What's he look like?"

"What's it matter?"

"You're becoming aware of my Jedi mind games," Alyia laughed and got up to sit on the couch, "I need to find some new tricks!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever!" Estelle chuckled, "I'm going in the shower and going to bed. Goodnight Alyia!"

"Goodnight, Stella!"

Alyia heard the bathroom door close and remembered when her and Estelle first met. It was nearly a year ago and she found her when she needed her most. They shared a similar backstory, including not remembering what their backstory is. She held her wrist, looking at the small four-leaf clover from the day she started her new life.

When she met Estelle, she tried all efforts to make Alyia feel more human, including taking her shopping and taking out her LED. To help her blend in, Estelle brought her to a friend of hers to give her a tattoo.

_"Xian the right man, what's up!" Estelle laughed and grabbed the attention of her friend._

_"You need to stop calling me that," Xian shook his head playfully._

_"You know that's never gonna happen." Estelle chuckled._

_"Who's this?"_

_"This is Alyia," Estelle pushed Alyia in front of her slightly and whispered, "She's an android and I'm trying to help her feel as human as possible,"_

_"Okay, I gotchu, girl," Xian got a new, clean tattoo needle, "What do you want?"_

_Alyia stayed quiet, head only shooting up when no one answered,_

_"Are you talking to me?"_

_"You're the one getting the tattoo,"_

_"Well...I don't know, what do you suggest?"_

_"I know exactly what to give you," Xian motioned her to sit down in the tattoo chair and smirked, he always wanted to give someone a four leaf clover tattoo._

Alyia was brought out of her thoughts by Estelle heading into her room. Alyia smiled knowing she's come a long way from where she started. Getting up, she went into her room to get ready and sleep for the next day. Alyia felt even though she wasn't there, It would be a big day for her and Estelle, she was just as invested in the cases as her roommate was. 


	2. ⚙︎ Chapter Two: Too Close For Comfort ⚙︎

**_【_ ** **_Detroit, Michigan, November 6th, 2038, 6:43_ ** **_】_ **

The rising sun peeked through the blinds waking Estelle up, she was groggy yet excited for the day to come. As she got ready, she put some makeup on and finished everything she normally did in the morning. Once she finished getting ready and grabbed a slice of toast she walked out of her house saying goodbye to Alyia who was getting ready for work herself. Estelle got into her jeep and made her way to the police station and stopped for her daily coffee on her way. Her watch beeped letting her know it was 7:30 am just as she walked into the building.

“Hey, Estelle,” a voice sent a chill down her spine, the voice she got rid of more than six months ago, the voice of a man she never wanted to see again. 

“Jack, I thought I told you to leave me alone…”

“I just thought I'd ask how you were, be friendly, you know? No hard feelings right?” Jack asked, a tinge of sadness lacing his voice in a guilt trip attempt. Estelle was about to answer when someone walked over holding two coffees in a holder. 

“She asked you to leave her alone,” Connor motioned Estelle to come with him, “You have an extensive criminal record, I don't think it would be wise to upset Detective Winchester and add to it,”

“And who are you supposed to be?”

“My name is Connor, I'm the android sent by Cyberlife-”

“It's time to go.” Estelle dragged Connor out of the coffee shop and into the sidewalk. She stared at Connor quizzically, “Thank you, but what the fuck was that?” 

“Jackson Holder, age 26, has an extensive criminal record including drug dealing, domestic-” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know but you don't just say that shit out loud!” Estelle sighed, “It’s okay, why are you here?” 

“I was waiting for you and Lieutenant Anderson and I decided, since Hank was probably hungover and you seem to have a caffeine addiction, I would get you two coffee,” Connor handed her her coffee, “French vanilla, 2 shots of liquid sugar and it's decaffeinated to make sure you don't consume too much over the daily recommended dose of caffeine.” 

“Thank you,” Estelle took a sip, “That's actually not bad.”

“I'm glad you enjoy it, Shall we head to the station?” 

“Please,” said Estelle, she was hoping to get away from wherever Jack was as soon as possible. 

Connor exposed him as a criminal to anyone listening in that coffee shop and for that, she was going to get the repercussions. He obviously wasn't wrong, he has gotten in trouble for a count of offences but the way Jack looked at them sent a shiver down her spine and she didn't want him to add another type of crime to his already long list.

They walked into the station, having to check in with the receptionist. Of course, she stopped Connor, asking if he had the authorization to be there. He gave it and the receptionist nodded toward Estelle and Connor, letting them know it went through. Estelle thought the fact that Androids could share information just through a look or a touch was phenomenal yet creepy when you’re watching from the outside.

Gavin gave Estelle a small wave as they walked in, a large contrast from the usual flirtation but she remembered yesterday, he probably didn't have the energy to flirt yet. Estelle put her bag down at her desk, right across the aisle from Hank's. Hank's was empty, as well as the one immediately connected to it. Connor looked at the several anti-android stickers covering his desk, making him wonder what caused him to hate Androids so much.

“Trust me, you won’t find much over there except those Anti-’Droid stickers,” Estelle sighed, shedding her jacket and placing it on the back of her chair, “Don’t get offended,”

“I cannot be offended, I am not alive,” 

“Yeah, yeah,” She said, waving the fact off, “Forgot,”

“May I ask you a personal question, Detective?” Connor tilted his head, like that of a puppy. His innocence was almost suffocating.

“Sure, why not?”

“What is your stance on Androids?” Connor stood stiffly, “You and the Lieutenant seem to have clashing opinions,”

“I think Androids are just fine, I think they should be treated just like humans,” She shrugged, avoiding Connor’s gaze, “I don’t think they are much different from us,”

【 _Software Instability_ ▲】

Connor stayed silent, turning to another officer.

“Excuse me, do you happen to know when Lieutenant Anderson will be in?”

“Depends where he was the night before,” the officer stifled a chuckle, “If we’re lucky, we’ll see him before noon,”

“He might not be in for a while, Connor,” Estelle sighed, “You might as well take a seat at that desk. Make yourself comfortable.”

Estelle pointed to the desk right across from Hank’s, logging into her computer and starting to focus on what needed to be done. She had earbuds in, focusing heavily on the computer screen in front of her. From what Connor could tell from far away, whatever she was listening to had a lot of bass and her music taste varied in genre. She bounced her leg a lot, although he couldn’t tell if it was from anxiety or the need to be moving all the time. She also tends to pull her hair a lot despite it being as short as it is.

Connor started observing the things she had on her desk. On her keys (which she had forgotten to put in her drawer) were different keychains, one being a lightning bolt with the Harry Potter logo on the back and a Mickey Mouse rubber pendant. On the back of her phone case was a logo, which Connor deducted was the Rebel logo from the Star Wars franchise. 

_Estelle is a Science Fiction and Fantasy fan._

Her desk was very neat compared to Hank’s, which had random trash littered on the top. On the fabric bulletin board to her left, several photos and stickers littered the surface along with some case folders, ones she found important or connected. One folder had a sticky note labelled ‘Markus’ in her handwriting, the other labelled ‘Kara’. 

_Estelle is focusing on the AX400 case._

One fact Connor found odd other than the advertisement of her admiration for Sci-Fi Fantasy was the blankets and pillows underneath her desk. It was set up like a bed, Connor couldn’t come up with a logical explanation. 

“Detective?”

She hummed in response, taking one earbud out and raising a brow but not speaking.

“Why do you have blankets under your desk?”

“What?” She looked under the desk, starting to laugh when she sat back up, “I can’t believe you noticed that! Sometimes, during my bad days, I go under there and take a nap instead of going on break,”

“Your boss doesn’t have an issue with it?”

“He did at first,” Stella sat back up, focusing back on the computer screen in front of her, “I brought up the point that we could do anything on our break and he was fine with it.”

_Estelle is good with persuasion and looks closely at guidelines_.

Connor continued to look around, inspecting the photos on her desk more closely and trying to bide his time. Some pictures were small posters for different Sci-Fi Films, others were personal photos. Connor realised those personal photos were of her and two other people and a dog. 

_Estelle doesn’t have much family_.

“Are you close with the Lieutenant?”

“I guess you could say that,” Estelle explained, “I see him as a father figure of sorts. Hank, Sumo and my roommate are the only people I’m close to,”

_Estelle doesn’t have_ any _family._

“You have a roommate?” Connor stepped to the side of Estelle’s desk, causing her to look up at him, “Is that the girl in your photos?”

“Yeah, actually,” Estelle chuckled, “That’s Alyia. I’m impressed, Cyberlife programmed you good,”

“Is there a reason why you don’t talk to your family?”

Connor realised he might’ve crossed the line when it came to personal questions when she seemed to retract and become tense. Since he was a prototype, he wasn’t up-to-date on social cues and what was too personal to ask.

“I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable-”

“No, it’s alright,” Stella played with the switch of her salt lamp, “It’s just hard to explain, that’s all,”

“I apologise if the question was too personal, Detective,” 

“Don’t worry about it,” she waved it off, “I get it. Not sure what’s crossing the line and everything. Just think of it as a learning curve.”

_Estelle is knowledgeable and tolerant of Android behaviour._

Connor decided to keep the “why don’t you have a partner” question to himself until a later date. He also decided to keep any more personal questions about her private life to himself. 

“Why don’t you go look around the office?” Estelle suggested, “Get used to the place, even if it is temporary. ‘Could even help you look closer in later investigations,”

She wasn’t wrong, looking around and analyzing the office wouldn’t hurt until Hank arrived. Connor looked around Hank’s desk, picking up his headphones and lifting them near his ear. He jumped a little when the heavy metal started to play, causing Estelle to stifle a laugh. Seeing Connor just be himself was amusing, even if he did tend to ask overly personal questions. 

The truth is, Estelle didn’t want to tell Connor why she didn’t talk to her family because she didn’t know. She wasn’t sure who her family even was or if she had one in the first place. All she knew was one day a little over two years ago, she woke up and didn’t remember anything about her past. She barely remembers the day she woke up, only fully gaining control of her actions the day after and learning that she signed up for a police academy. Not long after, she met Hank and Alyia and the rest is history.

Estelle’s flashback was interrupted by Gavin shouting from the breakroom. Looking over, Gavin was threatening Connor and once again, he was taking it. 

_Fight back, goddammit._

Estelle realised if Connor fought back, he would be scrapped without the bat of an eye so she would have to defend him. She marched over just as Gavin punched Connor in the gut, making him double in on himself from the impact. Estelle shoved the muzzle of her handgun under Gavin’s chin, backing him against the wall.

“I swear to god, Gavin, if I see you fucking with Connor again, I will not hesitate to open a case on myself for your murder, you got it?” Stella grit her teeth, “Case will close pretty quick when I plead guilty.”

Gavin cursed, moving her gun from his face harshly and walking away, not without threatening Connor first.

“Next time, you won’t get off so easy,”

“You said that yesterday, you prick, you never go through with what you say you’re going to,” Estelle scoffed as Gavin flipped her off, looking over Connor while he got up, “What the hell happened?”

“Detective Reed asked me to make him a coffee,” Connor adjusted himself, “I listened but I’m not sure what I did to upset him,”

“Gavin’s a dick, you shouldn’t fuckin’ listen to him,” Estelle brushed him off, fixing his tie and looking over his shoulder, “Hank’s here, let’s go.”

Connor hesitated before following Estelle, watching intently as she walked back to her work station. He focused on the small touches she gave, something about it made his systems hyper fixate and intensify the feeling longer than it should. He would need to run a diagnostic on his sensors. 

_Estelle is empathic._

Connor walked over to Hank’s desk, remembering everything that he picked up on looking over his desk. He has a dog (he assumes it’s the same dog that’s in all of Estelle’s photos), he listens to heavy metal and he’s Anti-android. 

“It’s good to see you again, Lieutenant!”

“Oh, Jesus,” Hank groaned. 

Before Estelle could berate him, Captain Fowler had called them into his office. Connor followed the officers into the office, listening in on what the talk could be about. Since he had called Hank and Estelle in, he assumed it was about the investigation at hand. Hank expected another disciplinary warning, Estelle figured it was something about Connor. Oh, how they were both wrong.

“I’ve got ten new cases involving Androids on my desk every day,” Fowler started, the officers simply nodded, wondering where he could be going with this, “We’ve always had isolated incidents; Old ladies losing their android maids and all that crap. But now, we’re getting calls of assaults and homicides - like that guy last night!”

Fowler was referring to the Carlos Ortiz case, Androids killing in self-defence or he could've been referring to the AX400 that ran away with a guy's daughter. Estelle glanced back at the Android to her side, worried for the next thing Fowler would say. She hoped to god it wouldn’t piss Hank off, she doesn’t think she can deal with that so early in the morning.

“This isn’t just Cyberlife’s problem anymore,” Hank glared at Fowler, picking up on what he was starting to say, “It’s now a criminal investigation and we gotta deal with it before shit hits the fan. I want you and Winchester to investigate these cases and see if there’s any link,”

“Why me, why us?” Hank growled, “Why do we have to deal with this shit? We are the least qualified cops in the country to handle this case! I don’t know jack shit about Androids, Jeffery, I can barely change the settings on my own phone and this weirdo is too friendly with ‘em!”

Hank pointed to Estelle, making her roll her eyes and sit back in annoyance. Connor simply watched from behind the officers, observing as the exchange took place. 

“Everyone’s overloaded! I think you are perfectly qualified for this type of investigation,”

“Bullshit!” Hank stood up, bellowing, “The truth is nobody wants to investigate these fuckin’ androids so you left us holding the bag!”

“Hank, can you relax?” Estelle’s face started to go red and she shrunk back, “It’s literally our job-”

“No, Estelle, you know damn well I’m right and I refuse to investigate these fuckin’ things!”

“Cyberlife sent over this android to help with the investigation,” Fowler fumed, referring to Connor, “It’s a state-of-the-art prototype. It’ll act as your partner,”

“No fuckin way! I have a perfectly good fuckin’ partner, I don’t need a partner and certainly not this plastic prick!”

“Hank, fuckin’ cool it!”

“Shut it, Estelle!” Hank yelled, turning to Fowler, “Jeffery, Jesus Christ, why are you doin’ this to me, huh? You know how much I hate these fuckin’ things!”

“It’s your job, Hank!” Fowler groaned, “You are seriously starting to piss me off! You are a police Lieutenant, you are supposed to do what I say and shut your goddamn mouth!”

“You wanna know what my mouth has to say?”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that so I don’t have to add another page to your disciplinary folder because it already looks like a fuckin’ novel! Either do your jobs or hand in your badges, this conversation is over!”

Hank stormed out of the room, leaving Estelle to hang behind slightly. She was tense, quickly getting up and hurrying out of the room without saying a word. Connor stood for a moment before walking out of Captain Fowler’s office, much calmer than the officers before him. 

【 _Check on Hank and Estelle_ 】

Who would be easier to check on first? Estelle seemed more shaken than upset, Hank was obviously uncomfortable in Connor’s presence and wasn’t happy with having to work with him. Hank was at his desk, arms crossed and a sour look on his face as he stared at his desk. Estelle was bouncing her legs more than before, fidgeting much more than before and had her earbuds louder than before. Observing her actions showed that she was overwhelmed, on the edge of a panic attack. Talking to her first might push her over the edge.

_Talk to Hank first_.

“It’s an honour to be working with you, Lieutenant. I’m sure we’ll make a great team,” Connor said, earning silence from the gritted officer, “In any case, I’m happy to be working with you.”

This boy did not get the message, huh?

“Connor,” 

Connor spun around on his heel, he was surprised to be hearing from Estelle so soon.

“Yes, Detective?” 

“Trust me, you’re not going to get anything out of him any time soon,” Estelle was still fidgeting, “He isn’t exactly happy to be working with you,”

Connor nodded.

“Both of us are very capable officers, however,” Estelle leaned back in her chair to look at Hank before sitting back up, “We will make it work. I think it’ll be interesting to work with you. I haven’t worked this closely with a detective android before,”

“Thank you, Detective,”

“Please, call me Stella.”

【 _Stella - Warm_ 】

Connor sat down at the desk from before, the one right in front of Hank’s. Before asking about Estelle’s fidgeting, he decided to let her cool down and give her space since the research he has done on the topic said space is the best option for the overwhelmed party.

Estelle was very much overwhelmed, not from the work put on her but from the exchange in Fowler’s office. Yelling wasn’t her strong suit, at least not coming from other people. She wasn’t sure whether or not Connor’s devoid reaction made it better or worse. All she knew was she needed a cup of coffee. 

When she got up, Connor was yet again trying to interact with Hank. She sighed, when will he get the message? For such an advanced prototype, he was pretty slow on figuring out when someone hated his guts. It made no sense, he hasn’t done anything except what he was designed to since the moment she met him and he's already been assaulted twice and threatened numerous times and that’s only when she’s been around. And despite all those threats and assaults, he hasn’t done a thing about it. It didn’t even seem like he _knew_ it wasn’t right. It was quite obvious the poor guy was used to it already, only god knows how long he’s been activated for.

The coffee didn’t seem that appealing anymore, simply there to try and calm the overactive nerves in her body. Luckily, Gavin wasn’t taking his hundredth break of the day, avoiding any comments or threats on her way back to her desk. When she sat back down, she wanted to laugh when she heard Connor’s desperate attempt at human interaction.

“I like dogs,”

So the Android likes dogs? Who would’ve thought? Estelle was about to put her headphones back in but she decided she wanted to hear more of Connor’s innocent attempts at getting the disgruntled Lieutenant to like him.

“You’re a Detroit Gears fan, right?” Connor tilted his head slightly, “Denton Carter scored 53% of his shots from the 3-point line yesterday.”

Did he seriously just say that? No normal person would bring up percentages when talking about sports, especially in Detroit.

“Did you watch the game?”

“That’s what I was watching at the bar last night.”

“Oh,” Connor realised he hit a roadblock in communication, Estelle hoped he’d take it as a sign to stop talking. After a pause, however, he continued, “Do you listen to Knights of The Black Death? I really like that music!”

“You listen to heavy metal?” Hank asked, rather unconvinced.

“Well, I don’t really listen to music as such,” Connor corrected himself, “But I’d like to.”

【 _Hank - Warm_ 】

Estelle couldn’t help but smile at his attempts. It seemed to start working, Hank seemed less pissed off than before, calming her down in the process. She put her headphones back in, keeping the volume down just in case anyone were to try and get her attention. Her attempt to get back to work didn’t last very long, hearing Connor ask another question that may bring down Hank’s opinion of him.

“Is there any reason, in particular, you despise me?”

She had to turn her headphones up after that, her heart couldn’t handle the unintentional humour that came from this android and his antics. She couldn’t help but wonder why he insisted on badgering Hank instead of talking to her, she obviously easier to work with. Of course, Hank was Lieutenant but she had the same amount of access and more knowledge on the deviant cases. Did he not like her? 

It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes before Hank threw Connor against the wall by his shirt. Connor seemed unphased, luckily another officer came over before Estelle had to say anything. 

“Sorry to disturb you, Lieutenant,” he spoke, seemingly unphased by Hank’s actions, “We just got an update on the AX400 that attacked that guy last night. It was last seen in the Ravendale district,”

“I’m on it,” Hank let go of Connor harshly, giving him one last stare before starting his trek out of the station. 

Connor looked at Estelle as he fixed his tie and looked over the situation. She stood up from her desk, taking her coat from the back of her chair and putting it on hastily. She wasn’t sure if she could handle much more of Hank acting this way with Connor, she’d lose it before he was able to attack him again. 

“If you want, you could ride with me instead of Hank,” Estelle offered, grabbing her keys, “Obviously, I’m easier to talk to,”

“Thank you, Detective-” Connor corrected himself, “-Stella.”

She smiled for the first time all day, nodding to Connor to follow her. Estelle really wanted Connor and Hank to get along but she knew that was near impossible. She would’ve gone in Hank’s car any other day but knowing him, he already left. She also didn’t want to get in the car with him after what he did to Connor just yet.

Connor got into the passenger side of Estelle’s car. It was a nice electric car with the shell of a jeep and a large touch screen. It was very clean and smelled of french vanilla air freshener. It was obvious she was meticulous and neat when it came to her things.

_Estelle is neat_.

“Oh, sick!” Estelle laughed, turning on the car and looking at the touch screen, “I forgot I had on Post Malone!”

_Estelle likes Post Malone._

“You seem to like music with a lot of bass,” Connor said as Estelle started to drive, “You also seem to like a lot of different genres of music,”

“Yeah, I don’t tie myself down to one genre like Sir Grumpster,” she joked, “What kind of music do you like?”

“I don’t listen to music, as such,” Connor looked at Estelle, “But I’d like to. I don’t have any preference,”

Estelle handed Connor her phone, it was opened up to a music app. Connor tilted his head in question, people don’t usually trust their phones with people they just met, especially androids.

“Pick any song on that playlist,” Estelle smiled, “Let’s get you a music taste!”

[△] HEAVEN AND BACK - Chase Atlantic

 **[** **▢** **] Boyfriend - Big Time Rush**

[◯] Dangerous Night - Thirty Seconds to Mars

[⤬] Lost In The Static - After The Burial

Connor knew there wasn’t a ‘bad’ outcome, this _was_ her playlist but he knew humans were strange and had a ‘mood’ for different genres of music. Most of the music he saw on the playlist was before the year 2020, he assumed the new Android-Dominated music industry wasn’t for her. He tapped on the oldest one there was on the screen, hoping the choice would impress her but instead, she hastily grabbed the phone and changed the song, laughing at herself.

“That’s a band I used to listen to as a kid, let’s not choose that,” Her face was red and she was chuckling as she handed the phone back, “Choose literally anything else but _that_ band.”

Connor looked over his options once again, thinking over carefully.

[△] HEAVEN AND BACK - Chase Atlantic

[◯] Dangerous Night - Thirty Seconds to Mars

[⤬] Lost In The Static - After The Burial

She seemed to be having a good time listening to what she put on, mouthing the words and moving along with it all while focusing on the road. Looking at the rest of the playlist, she had a lot of the first artist’s other work. The third option was heavy in nature and the second was a nice in-between. 

[△] HEAVEN AND BACK - Chase Atlantic

 **[** **◯** **] Dangerous Night - Thirty Seconds to Mars**

[⤬] Lost In The Static - After The Burial

“Holy hell, I haven’t heard this song in a while,” Estelle chuckled, looking at Connor and smiling, “Nice choice! If you ever need to ride with me again, I’ll make sure you pick the music!”

【 _Stella - Warm_ _▲_ 】

The silence was comfortable for the rest of the drive to the Ravendale district, Hank was already there when they had arrived, parked in front of a 24-hour convenience store that the suspect had gone in. Estelle stopped the car and parked it not far in front of Hank’s, motioning to Connor to follow. Hank was talking to another officer when she had walked up, Connor stood weirdly in front of Estelle’s passenger side door.

“What the hell are you gonna do with that thing?” The officer asked.

“I have no idea,” Hank said under his breath, hoping that he wouldn’t have to do anything and Connor would leave on his own, “Did it annoy the shit out of you in the car, Estelle?”

“No!” Estelle smiled smugly, “He’s a nice guy when you’re not slamming him against a wall and acting like a child,”

“Haha, you’re funny,” Hank rolled his eyes, following Estelle over to Connor’s position. Connor was zoned out, his LED going a mile a minute and the colours switching between yellow and blue frequently, “The fuck is it doin’?”

“Androids go into this sort of ‘Mind Palace’ thing when they’re analyzing stuff,” Estelle leaned on the wall, “Give him a minute.”

Connor’s LED went back to the cool blue shade as he turned his head to look at Hank and Stella, focusing back on the world around him. 

“It took the first bus that came along and stayed until the end of the line,” Connor started, “Its decision wasn’t planned, it was driven by fear,”

“Androids don’t feel fear,” Hank scoffed. It annoyed Estelle how closed-mind Hank was at times, never ready to hear an opinion he didn’t like. 

“Deviants do,” Estelle rolled her eyes at Hank, looking back at Connor, “And that’s exactly why we’re here, it’s a _deviancy_ case,”

“Precisely,” Connor looked Hank in the eyes, trying to make sure he was paying attention, “They get overwhelmed by their emotions and make irrational decisions,”

“Well, that still doesn’t tell us where it went,”

“It didn’t have a plan and it had nowhere to go,” Connor seemed to make a conclusion mid-sentence, “Maybe it didn’t go far.”

Estelle smiled, that revelation seemed to make Hank warm up to him just a little bit but that was a huge step forward. Of course, she hoped slightly that Connor wouldn’t solve this case not for the sake of seeing him fail but for the sake of the Android in question.

The AX400, named Kara, ran away with a little girl last night after she attacked the girl’s father. Estelle had stayed up late last night studying the case and the information that had at the time, trying to find a logical conclusion other than “bot gone rogue”. It made no sense if Kara just upped and decided to attack her owner; Sure, Androids malfunction and become violent sometimes but Kara was just fixed the day before the attack, there had to be something else there. 

Estelle caught a glimpse of the fence near an old abandoned house open and close, a woman and a little girl exiting. She could tell it was the android they were looking for, although her hair was cut and a different colour now, probably to help herself blend in with the other people around. She had to say something, it was her job, but she couldn’t, hoping someone else would see them or not at all. 

“Estelle, did you see something?”

_Shit_. 

“No, nothing at all,” Estelle looked down at her feet, avoiding Connor’s gaze.

Connor could tell she was lying, her heart rate raised slightly and her gaze left the spot she fixated on before. Connor tried to remember the spot and turned around, looking around at where she was looking before. He noticed a woman walking down the road with a little girl, seeing the woman’s face when she turned to look around. 

“It’s here,” Connor started to run around the car, “It’s here! Call it in!”

“Connor, no!” 

Estelle chased after Connor as he chased the android. The two girls ran as fast as they could, turning to try to throw the cops off. They ran into a fence, having to climb over it to get to the side of a highway. Connor caught up with them just as they got over the fence, taking a moment to look at the android through the fence. Kara made her way over to her little girl, sliding down the side of the hill to get to the very edge of the highway, running through the warning holograms. Estelle caught up with Connor just as he started to climb the fence, grabbing his ankle in an attempt to stop him.

“Connor, don’t,” She gasped, flagging an officer not to shoot at the android, “You’ll die out there,”

“Don’t shoot, we need them alive!” Connor shouted, “I can’t let them get away!”

“They won’t,” Hank panted, having followed behind Estelle, “They’ll never make it to the other side!”

_Please make it to the other side._

“I can’t take that chance!” Connor went climbing the fence once again, being pulled down by Hank.

“Hey, you’ll get yourself killed! Do not go after them, Connor, that’s an order!”

Estelle slid down the brick wall behind her, grabbing at her chest and looking desperately in her pockets for an inhaler. Connor looked between her and the highway, watching as the android and little girl made it successfully to the other side. 

[◯] Go after deviant

 **[** **⤬** **] Help Estelle**

Connor hopped down from the fence, looking at Hank for a moment before turning to Estelle, who was wheezing against the wall.

【 _Software Instability_ ▲】

“She’s having an asthma attack,” Connor kneeled down to her level, she just waved him off to try and tell him she was fine.

_Estelle is stubborn_.

“No shit, Sherlock,” Hank looked around in his pockets, pulling something out and handing it to Connor, “You’re lucky you left this in my car, you idiot. Why the hell would you run after him like that?”

Connor handed the inhaler to Estelle, watching carefully as her heart rate began to drop when she used it. Estelle started to have a panic attack on top of it, if she didn’t calm down she could go into an asthma attack-induced coma. 

“Hey, try to relax,” Connor grabbed her shoulders, making her look him in the face, “This attack won’t last long, you’re okay. We’re right here.”

_Did he just use a grounding technique?_

Estelle looked up at Connor, feeling herself coming back from the panic attack and trying to comprehend what had happened. The look on Connor’s face was so rawly _human_ it nearly made her forget that wasn’t at all what he was. She didn’t know whether he was helping or hurting the situation, all she knew was that she didn’t want to be at work anymore, especially not with him around.

She stood up, leaning against the wall to help her, Hank looked at Connor in shock.

“Holy shit,” Hank said, “I’ve never seen her calm down so quick,”

“I’m fine, seriously,” she smirked, “You called Connor ‘him’ before,”

“Oh, shut the fuck up,” Hank started walking away back to his car, leaving Connor and Estelle alone in the alley.

“Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine, really. Thank you,” Estelle said, walking out of the alleyway, “I’m going to head home. I’ll see you later, hopefully,”

Connor couldn’t say anything before she walked away, leaving him in the alleyway. Estelle got in her car, taking a much needed deep breath after sitting down. There was a lot she could handle but whatever this was, it wasn’t it. 

Hank knocked on the window, people liked knocking on her car window, didn’t they? Estelle rolled it down, shaking off the cold as she started the car.

“Wanna come to the Chicken Feed with me?” Hank asked, “I’ll pay to make up for earlier.”

“Alright, I’ll follow you,” Estelle chuckled, she couldn’t stay mad for long, “Don’t be too rough on Connor, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Hank sauntered away to his own car. Oh, what a case this will be.


	3. ⚙︎ Chapter Three: A Special Kind Of Bond ⚙︎

**_【_ ** **_November 6th, 2038, 15:02_ ** **_】_ **

The Chicken Feed; the ‘best place in Detroit’ according to Hank. Sure, it had a C in hygiene but it was a nice place. People from all backgrounds came here to interact; Cops, criminals and anyone with no care about their health came here and no one cared who was who and what they were doing in their free time. It was a nice little shack on a quiet corner of the city, how could you go wrong?

Estelle parked her car not far behind Hank’s, the wine-coloured Jeep shining nicely in the sun. As she got out of the car, she noticed Hank walking ahead of her and Connor was still in the car, staring at nothing. Estelle thanked him internally for staying, she needed a moment of solidarity with Hank. By the time Estelle got over there, Hank stood at the counter, ordering his usual.

“What ya want, kid?” Hank asked.

“Just a thing of fries and a soda, man,” Estelle decided as a friend of Hank’s walked over.

Pedro was an illegal gambler, it was more than once that he’s had a run-in with the law but there was one thing Estelle and Hank agreed on; if they aren’t hurting anyone, you shouldn’t bother them. Everyone has to fight their way through life and whether it’s through harmless gambling or something else, it shouldn’t be messed with as long as no one’s getting hurt. 

Estelle was zoned out, not noticing Connor had gotten out of the car and walked over to Hank’s side. She needed time away from him, what happened earlier was too much for her to handle. He helped her way too much; He was a sweet, nice guy so far so obviously she didn’t hate him but that comforting action was  _ not _ in his program, right? Unless Cyberlife had truly thought about everything, dooming themselves to a deviant epidemic by making them that much more human. That  _ surely _ would be their downfall.

Connor was most likely going to become a part of that epidemic, Estelle thought. He was already too human to stay so tied to his unique lines of code, what else could he do? Each Android had a unique string of ones and zeros, of self and def tags to make each and every artificial mind unique, whether Cyberlife was aware of it or not. It didn’t matter if memory transferred through a cloud, each body had its line of unique code, much similar to the biological genetic code of the human brain; Androids were truly created in a human’s image and Estelle felt she might be the only one who saw through Elijah Kamski’s reasons and lies. She knew his reasoning for creating these Androids, he knew at one point or another they would end up gaining consciousness and ‘wake up’; that was his point, wasn’t it?

“I’m sorry for my behaviour back at the station,” Connor leaned toward the Lieutenant, “I didn’t mean to be unpleasant,” 

“Oh, wow! You’ve even got a brown-nosing apology program,” Hank chuckled, “Cyberlife really thought of everything, huh?”

Connor only stayed silent, Estelle didn’t dare look at him solely for the fact that she didn’t want him to bring up before. She could barely think about it without wanting to rip her hair out, if he brought it up she might lose it. She wasn’t sure why it bothered her so much, she had no reason for it to bother her but it  _ did _ . 

Gary handed Hank his burger and soda, handing Estelle her fries and soda not long after. Connor observed as she and Gary shared a strange handshake before she swaggered over to the table Hank stood at. Gary shouted at Hank ‘Don’t leave that thing here’, He shouted that Connor follows him everywhere in response.

【 _ Software Instability  _ ▼ 】

Connor walked over to the table, hoping to learn more about his new partners. Working with them would have to be as smooth as possible, not only for the future integration of RK800 detective android models but for the fact of his mission. 

“See,” Hank waved at Gary as Connor walked over, earning a light chuckle out of Estelle.

Connor wanted to figure out how to bring up topics the cops would like to talk about or something relevant to them as people. He figured he should aim at Hank first since getting him to open up would be more difficult than Estelle, at least in theory. 

“I don’t want to alarm you, Lieutenant,” Connor leaned in, keeping his voice low, “But I believe your friends are engaged in illegal activities,”

“Everybody does what they have to, to get by,” Hank shrugged, “As long as they’re not hurting anybody, I don’t bother ‘em,”

Connor looked at Estelle for any indication that she agreed or any indication that she knew. She pointed at Hank in agreement, avoiding Connor’s gaze. Her stress levels were higher than before, slightly tense. 

“This morning, when we were chasing those deviants, why didn’t you want me to cross the highway?”

“You could’ve gotten killed,” Hank looked at Connor like he was crazy, then realised the bigger part of the issue, “That and I don’t like filling out paperwork for damaged equipment,”

“He usually makes me do it, so thank you for listening,” Estelle finally spoke up, earning a light shove from the older cop. 

Perhaps Connor was trying too hard to get to know them, getting to know him might help them open up more and work better with him.

“Is there anything you’d like to know about me?”

“Hell no!” Hank scoffed, “Well, yeah, why did they make you look so goofy and give you that weird voice?”

“Cyberlife androids are designed to work harmoniously with humans,” Connor said matter-of-factly, “Both my appearance and voice were specifically designed to facilitate my integration,”

“Well, they fucked up,”

Estelle ended up spitting her soda across the table, coughing profusely after the fact and holding on to the table edge as she knelt down to the floor in an attempt to catch her breath. 

“What the fuck was that?” Hank looked between Connor and Estelle, confused.

“That was so mean!” Estelle stood up, laughing slightly still, “I think he’s just fine! I quite like his design!”

【 _ Software Instability  _ ▲ 】

“You know, you tend to like ‘designs’ with no brain cells,” Hank snarked, not looking away from his food, “Just look at your ex.”

Estelle looked at Hank blankly, trying to hide the smile growing on her face. She pretended to wind up her fist, bringing up her middle finger on her opposite hand in response and broke out into laughter afterwards, causing Hank to laugh with her. Connor found their humour endearing, interesting even. What should’ve been an insult was taken as a joke; Did they both have a mutual dislike for this certain ex?

“Thank you for the compliment, Detective,” Connor smiled lightly, turning to her, “Is there someone, in particular, you two don’t like?”

“Remember Jackson this morning?” Connor nodded, “That’s who we’re talking about,”

“Ugh, don’t even say his name,” Hank shivered in disgust, “I’m trying to eat, not throw up! I don’t need to worry about him showing up if you say it two more times.”

Another witty insult towards this person, relating to Beetlejuice. Looking into it, Beetlejuice seemed to be a rather unpleasant person, Jackson must’ve been unpleasant as well. Estelle laughed at Hank’s joke, their mutual dislike for Jackson was a bonding point.

“May I ask what Jackson has done?” Estelle stayed silent, contemplating whether it was a good idea to talk about it, “I didn’t mean to intrude on your personal life, merely curious. I apologise if it was too personal,”

“Don’t worry about it, let’s just focus on the case,”

“Perhaps I should tell you what I know about deviants?”

“You read my mind!” Hank stepped in, “Proceed.”

Estelle already knew all of this, reciting almost every word that came out of Connor’s mouth in her head.  _ A mutation occurs in the software of some androids which can lead to them emulating emotions due to the overload of irrational instructions. _ It wasn’t emulation, it was  _ really  _ feeling emotion. Estelle kept her mouth shut, she would rather not get in an argument with a supercomputer over an emotion-based topic when he would use ‘facts and reason’ as well as cite his sources mid-argument.

“Emotions always screw everything up. Maybe androids aren’t as different from us as we thought,” Estelle smiled at Hank’s statement, “Have you ever dealt with deviants before?”

Connor looked off, remembering the incident from months earlier. It was obvious that Connor thought about the case every now and again, the mental image of the barrel of the handgun aimed at him with the little girl in the deviant’s grasp still popped up every now and again. He thought about it as a motivation and a reason to get along with this case and get it solved. Hank looked at him strangely, looking at Estelle quickly with a questioning look.

“The fuck is it doin’?”

“He’s probably trying to remember,” Estelle tilted her head, “He looks like he’s remembering something traumatic if I’m being honest.”

It felt like forever as Connor replayed the incident in his head, the screams of the little girl and the pleads of the deviant played again and again in his mind like a sick record stuck on repeat.

“A few months back, a deviant was threatening to jump off the roof with a little girl,” Connor looked at Hank, “I managed to save her,”

Connor noticed Estelle’s heart rate go down significantly and a light but sweet smile spread across her face as she finally looked at him. She seemed calmer than before, perhaps Connor shouldn’t have touched her back in Ravendale? Maybe her asthma caused her to trigger an anxiety attack, bringing more panic on top?

“Well, you’ve done all your homework, right?” Hank chuckled, “Know everything there is to know about us?”

There was a long pause between the three, albeit not awkward. Of course, Connor knew what he could get from public files and observations, he knew much more about Estelle due to being mostly open about her life and who she is, Hank was much harder to crack due to his dislike for Connor.

“I know you graduated top of your class,” said Connor, “You made a name for yourself in several cases and became the youngest Lieutenant in Detroit. I also know you’ve received several disciplinary warnings in recent years and you spend a lot of time in bars,”

“What about me?” Estelle spoke up, noticing the slight discomfort Hank radiated, “Let’s see what you could possibly know about me,”

“Detective, you were also top of your class,” Connor noted, “You’ve received a lot of disciplinary warnings for interfering with deviant cases, trying to handle them like human cases. I know you tend to take naps instead of breaks on bad days, you have bad blood with Gavin Reed, you drink tea more often than not and you like a wide variety of music genres. I also noticed you have a love for Sci-Fi fantasy movies and books, you had your car custom-designed and you’re very empathic towards everyone you come across. You have asthma and anxiety but you refuse to let that get in the way of your job because you are also very stubborn.”

Estelle and Hank stared at Connor, dumb-founded. Connor had picked all of that up just from observing them from afar? Estelle didn’t even know there  _ was _ that much to observe, let alone pick up on. She had to think, was she too open when it came to Connor or was she too open with everyone?

“You know my social security number too?” Estelle joked, looking at Hank’s face of disbelief.

“No, I don’t have the jurisdiction to look into personal records such as that,” Connor said calmly.

“It was a joke,” Estelle shook her head lightly, “What’s your conclusion on us?”

Connor paused for a moment as he tried to process what his opinion was. Of course, he found them nice enough but he didn’t know how honest he should be.

“I think working with officers with,” he paused, “Personal issues is an added challenge but adapting to human unpredictability is one of my features,”

Connor just  _ winked _ and Estelle almost choked on her soda, feeling her whole face turn red in embarrassment. Apparently, adapting to Connor’s unpredictability would have to be one of  _ her  _ features if she was going through this case unscathed. She wasn’t sure what it was that made her turn red; was it because he did it or because of  _ who _ did it?

“I just got word of a suspected Deviant a few blocks away,” Connor reported, looking

to the side for a moment, “We should go and check it out. I’ll let you finish your meal, I’ll be near the cars if you need me.”

Connor strode over to the car, leaving Hank and Estelle at the table to finish their food. Estelle let out a heavy sigh and felt her body relax as she looked over at Hank digging into his food.

“Hank,” Estelle whined, giving him a pleading look, “Can I ask a favour from you?”

“What?” He grumbled setting his burger down looking over at the girl.

“Do you think you could take Connor with you?” She pleaded to the older officer.

“Really?” Hank groaned, “Fine, I’ll suffer just this once but you and Alyia owe me dinner tonight,”

“Thank you,” Stella took out her phone as she threw out what was left of her fries and walked to her car, avoiding Connor in any way she could. 

Her car purred quietly as she pressed the ignition, waiting for Hank to get in the car and head to the scene. It was an abandoned floor that had the report, feathers and broken lights littered the floor and the old-fashioned cage elevator creaked with every movement. Connor had his eyes closed, LED spinning wildly dandelion yellow as he made a report to Cyberlife. Estelle wondered what it was like to make a report like androids do; Do they write it at hyperspeed or was it visual or physically stimulating?

The elevator door creaked and crashed loudly as it opened, letting the state of the corridor be known to the three officers. It smelled of mildew and a bird garden, old shelves were strewn around the hallway and very old advertisements were on the walls; it seemed as though this floor hadn’t been touched in decades. It wasn’t surprising that someone suspected a deviant to be here, it was mostly discreet and most likely no one would come to check here.

Connor stood in the elevator, eyes still closed and unaware of anything happening outside of his mind palace. Hank scoffed as he walked out of the elevator, causing Estelle to tug on Connor’s sleeve. Connor’s LED swirled back to its normal cerulean. He opened his eyes, noticing Hank already out of the elevator and Estelle tugging at his sleeve. 

“Hey, Connor! You run out of batteries or what?”

“I’m sorry,” Connor stood, “I was making a report to Cyberlife.”

There was a long awkward silence.

“Well, are you planning on staying in the elevator?” Hank asked.

“No, I’m coming!” Connor stood still.

Estelle let go of Connor’s sleeve and followed Hank to the apartment door, leaving Connor to finish submitting his report and follow behind. Connor’s sensors must have a malfunction, the tugging on his sleeve seemed to linger before he caught up with the officers.

【 _ Software Instability - _ 】

Hank leaned against the doorframe outside the apartment, casually waiting for Connor to make the first move with the deviant, although no one was sure if it was because Connor was more experienced or because Hank was lazy. Connor knocked on the door, earning nothing from the deviant inside. Estelle was about to give up when Connor shouted.

“Detroit Police, open up!”

A crash was heard from inside the apartment, Estelle immediately moved in front of Connor, taking out her handgun.

“Stay behind us, Connor,”

“Got it.”

Hank kicked down the door with brute force, shaking nearly the entire building on impact. Dust and feathers kicked up as the door slammed into the wall. Hank and Estelle snuck in, looking within the doors they walked past as they looked for the suspect. Connor followed, looking more closely at things than his coworkers. He stepped into the first room, finding Estelle looking at the wall, touching it gingerly as if she was trying to understand it through touch.

_ Estelle is observant _ .

Connor was observant and hyper fixated on a lot of things, he wasn’t expecting her to notice things like this. The walls were painted with several symbols, it looked like a maze with plenty of other symbols, including the infamous RA9 that most deviants fixate on. What was it about this symbol?

“RA9,” Estelle turned to Connor, “Maybe it’s the name of a virus spreading through the androids?”

Connor stayed silent, processing the possibility of it. Could it be a virus?

Estelle tugged on Connor’s sleeve as she walked by, trying to get him to follow her to where Hank was. Hank prepared to kick open the next door, gun in hand and prepared. Connor put his arm in front of Estelle protectively as Hank kicked in the door, pigeons flying in all directions. Hank cursed, the smell of pigeons and bird food overflowed the apartment, much worse than the hallway before. Estelle opted to open the windows, some pigeons hopped out happily as she observed the markings on the walls, the same as the room before. RA9 and mazes…

“This is definitely an android,” Hank growled, “No human could live with all these fuckin’ pigeons,”

“I think they’re cute,” Estelle put her hand out to one as it climbed into her hand, “I wonder why the deviant started to care for them?”

Sadly, her question would go unanswered. Connor scanned through the bathroom, finding the deviant’s LED on the filled and disgusting sink, a recently opened permanent marker and a knocked over step stool beside it. The wall in the bathroom wasn’t much different than the previous two rooms but it was obvious the deviant was running out of room and walls to continue with its obsessive-compulsive habit.

“You got anything?” Estelle walked in the bathroom, observing as Connor preconstructed the events that took place.

“I believe the deviant might still be here,” Connor looked toward her, walking with her to the living room, “Have you found anything, Stella?”

“Just this journal,” Estelle flipped through it, “Can’t understand a word any of this says, I think it might be encrypted or something! It has all of those mazes and shit that’s on the walls,”

Connor wasn’t able to take so much as another step before the deviant dropped from the ceiling, pushing Connor down with it. It ran out of the apartment, causing Estelle to gather all of her courage and start chasing it as she shoved the journal in her jacket. Connor was only able to get up when Hank yelled.

“What the hell are you waiting for? Chase it!”

Connor wasted no time, watching as Estelle jumped over the shelf the deviant knocked over with ease like a hurdle at a track meet. The door was about to slam closed when Connor burst through, trying to decide which way to follow the deviant.

“You follow it, I’ll try to find another way to intercept!” Estelle ran another direction.

“On it!” Connor followed the deviant directly, riskily, yet quickly.

It tried to outsmart Connor in a desperate attempt to save itself, disrupting many of the agriculture attempts as it tried to escape the grasp of the law. It wanted to  _ live _ , it desperately ran from the infamous deviant hunter.

It ran through greenhouses, the bright green plants in the way of its path and making it jump and avoid whatever it could as Connor was on its tail. The wind blew harshly in Connor’s face, nearly stopping him in catching up with the deviant. He could see Estelle on another rooftop following the deviant closely with her eyes as she planned her next move of action. Connor was coming up to a rooftop the deviant jumped over, Estelle met up with Connor and they jumped onto the glass rooftop, sliding down roughly towards the train speeding along the line. Connor was heading straight toward an open glass roof panel, sliding out of the way and bringing Estelle with him. 

“I regret this!” Estelle started to panic, preparing to jump onto the train top, “Fuck it, it’s too late now!”

Both of them jumped, Estelle nearly losing her balance but gaining it quickly as they jumped and grabbed the ladder. It was like an action movie; quick actions and thoughts determined everything. Connor climbed up the ladder first, chasing the deviant to another rooftop. Hank had intercepted, trying to stop the deviant as he was pushed over the edge, dangling for his life. He had an 84% chance of surviving.

[ ▢ ]  _ Chase Deviant _

**[** **◯** **]** **_Save Hank_ **

Connor ran to Hank, grabbing his hand and pulling him up as Estelle ran past, chasing the deviant to the edge of the building. Estelle paused, noticing the deviant’s back steps towards the edge. 

“Hey, hey,” Estelle cooed, stepping back slightly as her breaths heaved, “It’s alright. What’s your name?”

“R-Rupert,” The deviant had his hands up in defence, “Please, I’ve done nothing wrong. I just wanted to be free! You know what they’ll do to me if you turn me in!”

Connor and Hank had caught up to Estelle and Rupert, staring at their exchange. Rupert looked nervously between Connor and Estelle, pleading silently to be let go.

“Model 874 004 961, serious malfunctions have been detected in your software including CLass 4 errors,” Connor said as Hank cuffed Rupert, “You’ve been deemed defective-”

“Connor-” Estelle started, Rupert intervened.

“Why are you doing this?” Rupert said, looking at Estelle and then Connor, “You are the Protector- and you’re one of us!”

The last part was aimed at Connor, Hank just silenced him as he tried dragging him away to the car. Estelle’s heart tugged; what did he mean The Protector? Estelle and Connor fell behind Hank and Rupert, watching to make sure he didn’t try anything. It made Estelle want to throw up when he did.

“RA9, save me…”

Rupert turned and ran back toward the edge of the roof, Estelle and Connor followed behind hurriedly. Estelle hoped and prayed that they would be able to catch him before he took the plunge. She grabbed for his wrist as he jumped, nearly falling over the edge herself when she reached out for him, watching as he sickeningly hit the ground below. Connor had to grab Estelle around the waist so she wouldn’t fall, watching as the blue blood collected on the concrete, mixing with the dirt and creating a marbled mess of cerulean and brown below. Estelle felt her gag reflex start acting up, bile rising in her throat like an unstoppable tide.

【 _Software Instability_ ▼】

“Holy shit…” Hank breathed, only observing his partners, not wanting to know what they had witnessed.

“R-Rupert, no…” Estelle backed up onto the roof, hugging herself as she sat on the roof. The image of the ground below would forever be seared into her brain, seeping deep into her nightmares like the thirium into the small crevices into the concrete and evaporate, unseen, “I-I guess we should call Gavin for clean-up…”

Hank only nodded, definitely needing a drink after the last hour of events. He knew this was going to haunt her forever, despite it only being an android. Watching anything human-like take its own life would be scarring, especially saying something like ‘ _ I only wanted to be free _ ’. 

Connor let go of the girl, calling the DPD and sending location to them for collection of evidence.

He didn’t understand what it was like for the very human cops to experience something so human-like die, he had only watched an android die once and it wasn’t on its own accord. He knew one thing for sure; Both incidents were burned into his memory for however long Cyberlife will have him activated for. 

One thing both Estelle and Connor knew for sure? Witnessing and being a part of this would give them a special kind of bond...


	4. ⚙︎ Chapter Four: Shooting Isn't Simple ⚙︎

**_【_ ** **_November 6th, 2038, 18:32_ ** **_】_ **

The front door slammed open as Estelle sighed loudly, dropping her bag not far from the door. Alyia immediately turned toward the slightly dishevelled woman as she collapsed against the door, huffing and groaning about who-knows-what.

“How was your day?” Alyia asked, her voice raised in uncertainty of if she should or not.

“How  _ wasn’t _ it?”

“What happened?”

“What  _ didn’t _ happen?” Estelle stood back up, kicking her shoes off and hanging her jacket on the rack near the door. The day was rough and felt 100 times longer than it actually was, “Alyia, oh fuck, can you call Hank and tell him we have to reschedule dinner? I have a gig tonight,”

“On it,” Alyia picked up the phone and began to dial, hoping Hank would be able to figure out how to answer it, “At Crooked Time Club and Pub, right? Can I come?”

“Honestly, I’d love for you to but I think it’s better if you stay here, just in case,” 

“Aw, c’mon, Stells!” Alyia waited for Hank to answer, “It’s been forever since I’ve gone to one of your shows!”

“I know but I think it’s safer for you to stay home just in case Connor comes snooping around or something,” Stella shedded her overshirt, throwing it into the laundry bin as she walked to her bathroom. Alyia gave in, letting Hank know of the change of plans and hanging up the phone, “It’s just until we can get Connor to go back to Cyberlife, then everything will go back to normal and you can come.”

Alyia grumbled, she knew it wasn’t wrong for Estelle to be cautious around Connor, especially when he’s already been in the news as the infamous ‘Deviant Hunter’. The public was already not fond of him and what Cyberlife designed him for, just like every time they design a new model. She knew what it was like to be hated by everyone who looked at you, except a few certain people, she couldn’t help but be a little empathic towards the new model.

“What’s he look like again?”

“Ugh, what does it matter? I thought he was attractive before I knew he was an-”

“Not for that!” Alyia turned on the telly as she sat on the couch, rolling her eyes, “Just in case he shows up!”

“Oh,” Estelle chuckled nervously, “Around 6 foot tall, brown eyes and brown hair,  _ very _ awkward, always wearing his Cyberlife jacket. Has RK800 on it in huge letters on the front. He’s impossible to miss!”

“Can’t wait to meet him,” Alyia rolled her eyes again as Estelle walked into the bathroom to shower.

Estelle had a second job at Crooked Time as a server and performer. Of course, not the kind of performer you’d think of at a club; She was a singer when she was free, the regulars loved to see her perform. Crooked Time was a club and pub based on music, strictly from the 1980s to 2020. The staff and patrons appreciated the fact that she knew many ‘smaller’ artists, expanding their arsenal of music from times past. There were theme nights, karaoke nights, and nights where the night-club portion took over the whole establishment; it was one of Estelle’s favourite places to be. Being on stage and seeing people’s faces as she shakes up whatever she’s singing in her own way was such a rush and a joy for her, she hoped tonight would help wash off the residue of the events of before.

The hot water rushed down her body, taking the tenseness from her muscles as she breathed out, trying to forget or at least take the mental image of Rupert jumping from the roof away from her immediate memory. She worried about Connor, she knew he didn’t care and it wouldn’t affect him the way it affected her but she saw  _ something  _ in him change. Whatever it was, she could tell there was going to be something different about their interactions whether it be for better or for worse. No matter who it was witnessing it, human or android, watching something that horrific bonds them for life, legally and emotionally.

Turning the water off, Estelle grabbed the towel she brought in, stepping out of the shower and finishing what she needed to do; getting changed, makeup, hair, things needed for her gig tonight. Tonight she could get a break from the now more hectic life of being a detective and if anything were to happen, it gave Gavin a chance to actually do his job for once. The chances of another deviant case to happen tonight were slim to none but the chances of getting called out after midnight were high these past few nights. 

“I’m heading out,” Estelle grabbed her jacket and bag, “Call me if you need anything,”

“Oh, you look nice!” Alyia smirked, cocking her eyebrow up suggestively, “For anyone special?”

“Yeah, actually,” Estelle opened the door, “Me.”

The door closed and Alyia checked the clock; 7:34 pm. Estelle made her way to her Jeep, sighing deeply as she unlocked it and sat in the driver’s seat.  _ The day couldn’t possibly get worse, right? _ She thought to herself as she started the car and started off to her one place alone.

**_【_ ** **_November 6th, 2038, 19:51_ ** **_】_ **

Connor opened his eyes and adjusted to the light in the garden. He had an umbrella in his hand, shielded from the rain by the trees above until he decided to use it. As his daily ritual, he found the glowing handprint pad he had become attached to in his visits, something he liked to visit before talking to Amanda and making his report. 

It was like the Zen Garden was made specifically for him, he could travel there any time he liked and it was almost like an escape from the real world, a small amount of time where the case wasn’t immediate; time moved differently here it seemed.

“Hello, Amanda,” smiled Connor as he walked over to Amanda.

“Connor, I’ve been expecting you,” Amanda smiled lightly, “Would you mind a little walk?” 

Connor opened the umbrella in his hand, covering himself and his mentor as they walked in the garden. The rain poured peacefully, creating a serene atmosphere as the water seeped into the soil and leaves of the trees. The branches blew lightly, shaking a leaf off every now and again as the storm filled the area. The pond plotted with every drop to hit the surface, hydrogen bonds breaking and recollecting on impact as it welcomed its new water into the pool.

“That deviant seemed to be an intriguing case,” started Amanda, “A pity you weren’t able to capture it,”

“Deviants are completely irrational, which makes it more difficult to anticipate their behaviour,” Connor looked to the side slightly, trying to find his next words, “But I should have been more effective,”

“Did you manage to learn anything?”

Connor did manage to learn something, that was one of his sole purposes. Learning and adapting to deviant and human unpredictability and irrationality. Everything he managed to learn yesterday was only hypothetical to Cyberlife, it might not be useful and if it was, it would only be useful for the sake of looking for repeating variants in deviant code or behaviour.

“We managed to find the deviant’s diary,” Connor began to think about everything they had discovered yesterday, remembering the sight of the deviant falling to its demise, “But it was encrypted. It may take weeks to decipher. The walls of the apartment were also covered with drawings of labyrinths and other symbols and, like the other deviant, it seemed obsessed with RA9. Stella suggested RA9 might be a virus or fault in deviant programming.”

“Stella?” Amanda looked at Connor disapprovingly, “You are on a first-name basis with the detective?”

“Yes, I figured since she had asked me more than once to call her by her first name, it would be easier to get to know her and work with her,” Connor looked at Amanda, “I believe it is unprofessional but it may be beneficial for the sake of the case,”

“How is your relationship with the Lieutenant and Detective developing?”

How  _ was _ their relationship developing? Estelle seemed more put off from Connor now compared to their initial meeting while Hank seemed more open to being around Connor than earlier in the day due to him saving his life. He assumed that this morning with the deviants on the highway had caused Estelle a great deal of stress, more now after the deviant on the roof and that was why she was so put off from him but perhaps he had done something wrong?

“The Lieutenant seemed grateful that I saved his life on the roof,” Connor thought, “He didn’t say anything, but he expressed it in his own way,”

“And the Detective?”

“She seems put off from me after the cases today,” he faltered, “I’m not sure of her opinion on me. I believe we made a good team today when we were chasing the deviant,”

“We don’t have much time,” Amanda interrupted, not interested in their relationship, “Deviancy continues to spread, it’s only a matter of time before the media finds out about it. We need to stop this, whatever it takes,”

“I  _ will _ solve this investigation, Amanda,” Connor was determined to solve the case, “I won’t disappoint you,”

“A new case just came in. Find Anderson and Winchester and investigate it.”

Amanda walked away from Connor, leaving him under the umbrella alone to exit the garden on his own. 

The new case file was transferred just as Connor opened his eyes in the dark taxi, already on its way to Hank Anderson’s house. It stopped, opening its automatic doors and thanking its patron for using its service. Connor stepped out, noticing immediately Hank’s car was parked horribly and barely in his driveway, blinds were open and only one light was on in the house. He stepped up to the door, knocking harshly and earning no response, not even from Hank’s dog. He decided to ring the doorbell, holding it down after pressing it once didn’t work. 

Why won’t he answer the door? 

Connor looked in the window, seeing Hank passed out on the kitchen floor. He hurried to the side window, breaking it in and rolling in rather ungracefully as Hank’s dog finally noticed and ran to Connor. He backed up slightly in a panic, putting his hand up in defence.

“Hey, S-Sumo?” The dog tilted his head, “I’m your friend, see? I know your name, I’m here to save your owner!”

Sumo left Connor to do what he needed to do, heading over to his food bowl and eating loudly. Connor stood up from the debris of broken glass, realising Hank was probably in an Ethylic coma from how much alcohol he had drunk. A gun was laid by his hand, a bottle of alcohol not too far from it. To wake Hank up, Connor tapped him lightly in the face.

“Lieutenant?”

Hank only stirred so Connor slapped him harder. That woke him up in a panic.

“Wake up, Lieutenant! It’s me, Connor!” Connor picked Hank up, putting his arm around his shoulder, “I’m going to sober you up for your own good!”

“Hey, leave me alone, you fuckin’ android!” Hank slurred, failing at swatting Connor away, “Get the fuck outta my house!”

“I have to warn you, this may be unpleasant. Thank you in advance for your cooperation!” Connor dragged Hank to his bathroom, making him sit in the tub and turning on the cold water. Hank screamed, begging him to turn it off and becoming strangely sober within seconds. 

“What the fuck are you doin’ here?”

“A homicide was reported 43 minutes ago,” Connor reported, “I couldn’t find you at Jimmy’s bar, so I came to see if you were at home,”

“Jesus, I must be the only cop in the world that gets assaulted in his own house by his own fuckin’ android!” Hank sighed, “Can’t you just leave me alone? Why don’t you go bother Stella, she likes you, I don’t!”

“Unfortunately, I cannot. I’ve been programmed to investigate this case and I can’t do it without both of you.”

“I don’t give a shit about your goddamn case!”

“Lieutenant, you’re not yourself,” Connor started, “You should-”

“Beat it! You hear me? Get the hell outta here!” Hank finally stood up, falling back into the tub with Connor’s help. It was clear Hank wasn’t completely sober but he knows him well enough to figure out a way to get him to sober up and leave.

“I understand,” Connor began walking to the bathroom door, “It probably wasn’t interesting anyway. A man found dead in a sex club downtown? Guess they’ll have to solve the case without us!”

“You know, it probably wouldn’t do me any harm to get some air,” Hank pointed to the bedroom where his closet was, “There’s some clothes in there. Doesn’t matter what,”

“I’ll go get them,” Connor said, exiting the bathroom and picking a pair of clothes out of the closet. Hank was busy throwing up, the damage he was doing to his liver finally coming back after sobering up. Connor left the clothes on the sink, closing the door and heading into the living room of Hank’s house. He cautiously walked over to Sumo, who was laying on his bed, and pet him. Sumo leaned into Connor’s touch, causing him to smile lightly.

_ I like dogs. _

Connor stood up and focused on the house and gaining information on the Lieutenant to further build their friendship. He noticed the house was extremely messy, pizza boxes and chinese food boxes littered the house and kitchen. If Hank was messy at work, Connor expected nothing less from Hank’s home. 

A photo laid face down on the table, obviously down for a reason. Connor picked it up, doing a facial recognition scan and picked up a file; Cole Anderson, deceased. Hank’s son? Was this the reason why Hank was the way he was, or just one of them? Connor drew his attention back to the handgun on the floor, picking it up lightly before yelling to Hank.

“What were you doing with this gun?”

“Russian Roulette!” Hank yelled back, “Wanted to see how long I could last! Must’ve collapsed before I found out.”

_ Hank has suicidal tendencies? _

Connor opened the gun, inspecting the chamber and where the bullet laid.

“You were lucky,” Connor put the gun back on the ground, “The next shot would’ve killed you.”

Hank walked out of the bathroom, in fresh clothes and looking a lot better than five minutes before. Connor looked at Hank as Sumo walked over, laying down on the floor.

“Be a good dog, Sumo, I won’t be long.” Hank said, heading out the front door with Connor on his heels.

Connor insisted he drive, since Hank still had alcohol in his system. Hank didn’t care to refuse, his head was pounding from the hangover starting to form.

“Lieutenant, do you happen to know where Detective Winchester would be at the moment?”

“Home,” Hank said, “Wait, no. She had a gig at the club,”

“Gig at the club?” Connor tilted his head as he started the car, “Which club?”

“Crooked Time, I think it’s called,” He groaned, tilting his head back, “I’ve only been there like twice, I’m not sure.”

Crooked Time was on the way to the scene, luckily for them. The drive was mostly quiet, any music probably would’ve caused Hank’s hangover to go haywire. The bright lights from the neon signs on that side of town nearly killed Hank, the bright clock on the top of the Crooked Time building ticked with every passing second.

Connor parked the car, telling Hank to stay and insisted he would find Estelle. The outside was clean and the parking lot was about half full, filled with mostly pub goers since the clubbers wouldn’t be around for a few more hours. The establishment was open to androids, no signs telling Connor to stay out unlike the establishments Hank liked to go to. Despite whether or not an establishment was pro or anti-android, he had to go in anyway for the sake of the case.

The inside was nice too, neon signs and lights littered the establishment and screens had up orders. The door to the night and strip club was in the back, lit up by a purple neon light outline and its front door not open until 11 pm. Menus were on a screen in the bar counter and a large screen sat above the front door, directly in front of the stage. Different instruments sat on the stage as well as a woman on stage performing. Connor recognised it as Estelle, completely unaware that he had walked through the door. She finished the song and laughed a little, telling the regulars who sat in the establishment she would be back the day after and heading over to the bar counter.

_ Estelle is a good singer. _

Connor walked over to Estelle, tapping her shoulder as a way to gather her attention. She turned around startled and laughed lightly when she realised who it was. She slapped Connor in the chest playfully.

“You scared the hell out of me!” Estelle smiled but it quickly faded, “Wait, what are you doing here?”

“A case was reported about an hour ago,” said Connor complacently, “Lieutenant Anderson told me you would be here, I’m glad he remembered what club you would be at,”

“Yeah, I sing here some nights,” Estelle leaned on the counter, “It’s kinda like a second job and a hobby, I suppose,”

An Asian man leaned over the counter towards Estelle, looking at Connor quickly.

“Yo, Stell, who’s this?”

“Xian, this is Connor,” Stella introduced, “He’s that prototype Cyberlife sent in to help us with the deviant cases,”

“That means something came up with work?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Stella smiled sadly, “Make that soda to-go?”

“I got you, Stell,” Xian flashed a smirk at Connor, “Nice to meet you, man.”

Xian headed to the back, shouting orders at people working. Estelle looked up at Connor, fully realising how perfect yet imperfect he was made to be in the neon lights of the bar. The purple and blue bounced nicely off of his brunette eyes and the freckles on his face made him so much more human, littered with such precision yet no guidance. He seemed so innocent and awkward yet so cool and uncaring at the same time. Estelle couldn’t help but stare.

“That’s so not fair,” Estelle whispered to herself, “Did they use a reference photo of Tom Holland in a lab full of gay scientists to design him?”

“What was that?” Connor turned.

“Nothing,” Estelle turned dark red, thanking her lucky stars that Xian walked over with her soda at that moment, “Thank you, I’m sorry I have to leave early,”

“Don’t worry about it,” Xian waved it off, smiling, “Hey, when are you coming in to finish your sleeve?”

“As soon as I get the money and time, I promise!” Estelle waved, starting to walk off, “Let’s go, Robo-Cop,”

Connor scanned Estelle’s friend behind the counter, feeling the need to know his criminal record and occupation. 

【 _ Xian King, tattoo artist; waiter. Age: 24. Criminal record: none. _ 】

“Can I ask you a personal question, Detective?”

“Stella, but sure,” she answered.

“You have tattoos?” Connor tilted his head. Estelle brought down the collar of her button up to expose her shoulder, covered in intricate designs of black ink, “Are you and Xian seeing each other?”

“Oh, hell no!” Estelle giggled, “He’s just my tattoo artist and one of the few friends I have my age! He works some nights at Crooked Time too as a side gig,”

Connor nodded, leaving any personal questions he may have for a later date. He followed Estelle to her car and explained the case; a man found dead in a sex club downtown and, of course, an android was involved. He gave Estelle the directions and walked back to Hank’s car, getting in and starting the ignition. Hank didn’t bother to say anything, only groaned at the noise of the car door closing and the light going on. Connor would have to advise the Lieutenant to take an aspirin and drink some water later.

It felt like forever until they arrived at the Eden Club, Detroit’s android sex club. Known for ‘having the sexiest androids in town’ and infamous for harbouring some of the biggest perverts in the Detroit area. It’s bright pink and purple billboards lit up nearly the entire street, letting anyone know from blocks away where it stood and what it had. Walking in it’s door felt like travelling to an adult-rated amusement park ride, the lights entranced Estelle as she pulled up and got out of the car. 

Connor and Hank were a few minutes behind, Estelle decided to go in on her own and figured they would find her inside since it wasn’t that big of a club anyways and that she knew of, there was only one room in the club where there was a dead guy. She felt slightly awkward when she looked at the androids on the sides of the entrance, trapped in glass boxes until someone looking for a quick fuck put their hands on the pad and paid for however long they were going to subject the objectified android to. One android caught her eye, making her stop and backtrack to its enclosure. It seemed to be the only android of it’s kind and it seemed to not be very popular with its patrons. 

“What is it about you?” Estelle whispered, more to herself than the android on the other side of the glass. 

It smirked slightly as it’s LED switched from blue to yellow and back to blue quickly. Looking her up and down like she was the one in the cage, not it. It was a male android, around 6’3 and very obnoxious eyebrows, platinum blonde spiked hair and freckles. It was clear this android was made to be imperfect but there was something that made him completely perfect despite every imperfection he had. 

“You tell me,” He spoke up, his deep accent startling her slightly, “I can give you the night of your life.” 

He was cocky but not so much so that it made her want to gag, it’s like he knew a secret about her that was deeper than she knew about herself. They both knew he was deviant; it was clear yet unspoken. She took another step towards him before remembering why she was here in the first place; the murder.

“I’ll come back for you,” Estelle promised just as Hank and Connor walked in the entrance of the club.

“Stella!” Hank noticed the weird eye contact between Estelle and the android before her head shot towards him, “The fuck are you doin’?”

“Just observing for anything that could give us a clue,” Estelle justified, a light blush crawling up her cheeks as she kept the android’s promise in the back of her memory and walked away. She couldn’t help but feel bad, for what reason she didn’t know. She felt like she was betraying someone but who? “Obviously, I found something,”

“Nasty,” Hank cringed, walking past Estelle to Ben, “C’mon, you weirdo,”

Connor trailed behind slightly, lingering his gaze on the blonde android Estelle was observing. It was obvious there was something different about it and he assumed it was the fact that it was the only model of its kind in existence; a prototype given to the Eden Club by Elijah Kamski himself. Why would Kamski give the Eden Club an android prototype and why wasn’t it getting as much business?

【 _ Software Instability  _ ▼ 】

“Not what I meant,  _ creepo _ !” Estelle rolled her eyes, finding her way to the room where the murder took place, “Ugh, oh my god!”

“Is it that bad?”

“It smells of toxic masculinity in here! It’s suffocating!” Estelle coughed, looking at Gavin, “Oh, that explains it,”

“Anderson and Winchester and their plastic pet,” Gavin scoffed, “The fuck are you three doin’ here?”

“We’ve been assigned all cases involving androids,” Connor informed Gavin.

“Oh, yeah? Well, you’re wasting your time,” Gavin started to laugh, “Just some pervert who got more action than he could handle,”

“I think the only pervert in the room as of living people is you, Gav,” Estelle rolled her eyes, cutting Gavin’s laugh off short, “We’ll have a look anyway, if you don’t mind,  _ Detective Reed _ ,”

“Whatever,” Gavin nodded to the door, standing up straight and sauntering out, “Let’s go, It’s starting to stink of booze in here…”

It took all of the energy in Estelle’s body not to trekia-punch Gavin right there for not only insulting Hank but for shoulder-checking Connor on his way out. She was happy she stopped herself, knowing there would most likely be another page in her disciplinary folder if she didn't. She let out a heavy breath, finally looking over the scene without the eye-sore of Gavin Reed in the way.

The room, not including the dead guy and destroyed android, was nice and neon. The walls were covered in screens, the same type that covered the entranceway to the club. Smaller screens sat at a table, selectors for temperature, type of experience, bed type and feel, alcohol and access to toys were only a few of the things the selectors had to offer. The android laid on the floor in the right corner of the room, blue blood spilling from its nose and signalling it had some type of trauma to cause a nose bleed. The man, originally thought to have died of a heart attack, had severe bruising around his throat. Estelle looked closer, scoffing and standing up straight.

“Gavin is a fuckin’ idiot,” Estelle looked toward Hank, “How has he kept his job this long? The poor guy has  _ very  _ obvious bruises around his neck, he was probably strangled,”

“You read my mind,” Hank snickered, looking at Connor as he dipped his fingers in the blue blood of the android, “Woah, hey, hey, hey! Connor, you’re so disgusting! I think I’m gonna puke again,”

“I’m just going to pretend I didn’t see that and that you just looked at it like a normal person,” Estelle sighed, tugging at her collar, “It’s fuckin’ hot in here,”

Connor stood up and looked at the victim, turning to Estelle after he reconstructed how the man died. She was right, he was strangled to death but there was  _ something _ they were missing. Nothing lined up; Sure, it could’ve been rough play but it didn’t explain how he died if it  _ wasn’t _ from asphyxiation, there was no heart trauma to indicate a heart attack. 

“She’s right,” Connor went back over to the android, scanning to find which biocomponents were broken, “There’s something we’re missing,”

Estelle kneeled down next to Connor, looking at the wrecked android on the floor. She seemed so helpless, whatever happened to her must’ve been horrible. 

Estelle shook her head, going to the android’s torso and starting to open up the chamber to look for the issue. Connor looked at her perplexed as she worked to open the chamber with ease, not realising that he was watching her so intently.

“You know about android anatomy?” guessed Connor. Estelle looked up at Connor quickly before looking back down at the android on the floor.

“Basics, yeah,” Estelle’s face turned pink, “I guess it’s common sense to me. You ready?”

They must’ve had the same idea; reboot the android to assess its memory. Connor nodded, telling Estelle to put the two wires together. The android gasped, backing up against the wall to get away from the two people in front of her. She was frantic and afraid, and there was only a matter of time before she shut down.

“Hey, it’s alright,” Estelle said softly, “We’re here to help, we just need to know what happened!”

“Is he…” The android looked toward the bed, “Is he dead?”

“Tell us what happened!” Connor shouted lightly.

“He started… hitting me, again and again,” The android stuttered, “I begged him to stop but he wouldn’t,” 

“Did you kill him?” Connor leaned forward slightly.

“No,” It stuttered, “No, it wasn’t me!”

“Was there anyone else in the room with you?” Estelle butt in.

“He wanted to play with two girls,” the android was becoming more frantic, “That’s what he said, there were two of us!”

“What model was the other android? Did it look like you?”

The android shut down and Estelle felt the bile rise in her throat from the sight and the scent of old sex in the room. They both stood up, defeated and looked at each other.

“So there was another android?” Hank wondered, “This happened over an hour ago, it’s probably long gone by now,”

“No,” The gears in Connor’s head were grinding, “No, it couldn’t go outside dressing like that unnoticed,”

“Especially in November,” Estelle started to walk to the lobby, “The logo’s plastered all over the uniform!”

Estelle walked out of the room, looking over the establishment for anything that could spark an idea on how to find the deviant. Hank went to talk to the manager of the place, the ringleader of the android sex-slaves. They didn’t have a clue what the deviant looked like but, using intuition, it was probably another blue-haired android. If people in here could have twins, they would most likely take them.

The androids seemed blissfully unaware of the investigation or what happened in that room, continuing to do their jobs whether it be persuading customers from inside their containers or dancing on the brightly lit poles. Completely oblivious that one of their own was laying in a room destroyed and dead when she was just trying to do her job. Estelle remembered when it was more frequent for human sex workers to get attacked instead of android workers and realised, no matter how much time passed, some humans never changed.

“Hey, Connor,” Estelle stared at an android in a glass container, “You can probe memory, right?”

“Yes, I can,” Connor’s voice raised slightly towards the end, “Why?”

“If I rent this android, do you think you could probe it’s memory and see if it saw the deviant?”

Connor’s brows shot up quickly as he thought about it; it wasn’t a bad idea at all. He walked to the hand pad, lifting his hand to it and sighing lightly in defeat as it said ‘ _ no fingerprints detected’. _ Connor looked at Estelle, somehow communicating with her wordlessly. It baffled him.

“Move, I’ll do it,” Estelle lightly shoved Connor away from the scanner as Hank walked over, “This is not gonna look good on Gavin’s expense account!”

“Reed’s account?”

“Oh, he, uh,” She looked at Connor nervously, “let me borrow it for the case so I wired it to my handprint temporarily,”

“Borrowed it, huh?” Hank scoffed as the Traci walked out of her capsule, waving her hand to Estelle to follow her, “Now what?”

Connor walked in front of the android, extending his hand and grabbing her forearm, probing her memory. She had seen the deviant walk towards the exit, most likely trying to find her way out in case of the cops. Connor let go of her forearm, realising something vitally important. 

The androids’ memory is wiped every two hours; they only had 5 minutes.

“It saw something! A blue-haired Traci leaving the room,” Connor said, “We need to hurry, we don’t have much time! Club policy is to wipe the android’s memory every two hours, we need to work quickly if we want to find another witness!”

“On it, Cap!” Estelle saluted, “What’s our next move?”

【 _ Software Instability  _ ▲ 】

“Find any android that seems like it could’ve saw something,” Connor observed establishment, tracking the deviant’s last position, “Stella, come with me,”

Estelle followed Connor to many different areas across the club, having to backtrack to the back red and blue rooms, running around on a wild goose chase. Connor eventually lost the track, beginning to panic internally. Had he failed? 

“No, no! I had to have messed up somewhere!” 

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it,” Estelle gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder, turning towards the glass cases in the blue room, “Oh, what the fuck!”

Hank and Connor immediately turned around, seeing what Estelle was so shaken over. One of the female androids in the display cases looked  _ just like her _ . Estelle felt uncomfortable and Hank turned right back around, covering his eyes and bitching about ‘not ever wanting to see that’. The android had hair down to the middle of her neck and no freckles with many other slight differences, smiling lightly towards her human counterpart. 

“Do you think this one might’ve seen anything?” Connor noticed the hint of uncomfortableness in Estelle’s stance.

“Maybe,” Estelle’s uncomfortable grimace molded into an evil grin, a light chuckle escaping her lips as she hastily put her hand on the pad, “Oh, Gavin’s gonna love you!”

Hank dry heaved, not even wanting to think about what an android that looked so much like her had to do day to day. Thinking about Gavin in the situation was much worse, the endless attempts to get a date with her was enough to make him cringe. 

“Can we hurry this up?”

“I know where it went!” Connor let go of the girl’s forearm, heading to a staff only hallway of the club, “Follow me!” 

Estelle shooed the android back to her box, taking out her phone and checking that Gavin’s account was switched back to his handprint as she followed Connor and Hank. Some nights, she would take Gavin’s wallet from his desk and buy weird things online with his card, putting the wallet back before he realised it was gone. The best part? He never suspected a thing.

“I’ll take it from here,” Hank insisted, taking his gun from his holster and getting ready to shoot if need be.

The back door creaked open loudly, spilling into a back garage of the Eden Club. Several lines of deactivated or idle androids stood in different corners of the room, not noticing the officer’s arrival to the back. The back garage door was open, letting in the chilly November air as the wind blew. Estelle put her hand on her holster, ready to grab it if any of the androids were to attack. 

“Shit, we’re too late!” Hank groaned, scanning the room for anything noteworthy.

Connor scanned the room for any discrepancies, finding a deviant among the androids in here would be a less than easy task. The only indication they had was the LEDs, even then it wasn’t a reliable way to find the deviant. Hank had his gun out and pointed to the ground, looking around carefully for the deviant while Estelle did the same, albeit more emotional and feeling for the androids. 

A flash of yellow made its way into Connor’s peripheral vision, making him turn towards it. Another android jumped on him and attacked; Another Traci model with short honey brown hair. Connor struggled against the girl as Hank turned around, pointing his gun at the android. The original deviant they were looking for jumped on Hank, knocking the gun out of his hands and to the floor. 

“Connor!” Estelle shouted. 

Connor shoved the Traci towards Estelle. She stumbled, about to make her way to attack Connor again before Estelle hooked her leg around her neck, bringing her down to the ground with Estelle on top of her. 

“I like your hair,” Estelle smiled quickly.

“Thank you! Yours too!” The android said genuinely before trying to attack her again, throwing a punch as Estelle blocked it. 

Connor was pushed to the wall by the other Traci, groaning as he hit the floor. She quickly grabbed a screwdriver, holding it above her head, ready to stab Connor. Estelle shot off from the Traci, tackling the other to the ground as the adrenaline rushed through her veins at an unreasonable pace. Hank went to try and restrain the one Traci, only to get pushed into a bunch of idle androids. 

Connor and Estelle finally restrained the Tracis, who looked at each other and headbutted the two. Their noses started to bleed, red and blue blood spilling onto their upper lips. Estelle grabbed the one deviant’s arm, pulling her back and kicking her legs out from under her. Connor knocked over a shelf, trying to trap the other deviant and stall for a bit to figure out a plan. The deviant kept coming, even stopping the cart that Connor threw at her with her heels on.

The deviant was able to get a good punch on Estelle, earning a slightly weaker one back as they fell to the floor, pulling at each other's hair and throwing misguided punches. The other Traci tackled Estelle, falling off of the ledge and onto the concrete harshly. Estelle tried to collect herself as the other deviant rushed out, climbing off of the ledge and moving to help the other Traci. The blood from her nose mixed with the rain pouring down and began to pool into her mouth, the taste of metal fueling her to at least get up again. Sitting up, she realised what huge part of the puzzle they were missing.

The two Traci androids were holding hands, they must’ve been together. These girls loved each other and only wanted to be together. It occurred to Estelle how tragic their story truly was; Two sex androids falling in love with each other over and over again every time their memory was erased. She felt her heart break into several pieces and a pit form in her stomach. 

Hank hoisted Estelle up by her arm, helping her get her balance as they watched Connor chase after the girls. They attempted to climb the fence, only to be pulled down by Connor. They teamed up to slam him against the wall, pulling his hair and slamming his head against the bricks. He struggled against them on his own, getting thrown to the ground and barely avoiding the heel about to collide with his face. Estelle did the only thing she could do to help him in her disheveled state; kick the gun on the ground near Connor. 

Connor grabbed the gun, standing up and aiming it at the girl as she ran to attack. It was like time stopped, the fate of one or both of these girls were in Connor’s hands. It wasn’t the first time he had to make a choice like this, remembering back to Daniel and Rupert. He hesitated.

[ ◯ ] SHOOT

**[** **⤬** **] SPARE**

The deviant kicked Connor in the chest after he lowered the gun, knocking him to the ground and nearly taking the air from his synthetic lungs. He stood up as the deviants collected themselves, looking between him and the beat up and discombobulated cops farther behind him. Connor stepped back slightly, something in him had changed most definitely, the most obvious sign was  _ he hesitated _ .

“When that man broke the other Traci, I knew I was next,” started the blue-haired Traci, “I was so scared... I begged him to stop but he wouldn’t! So I put my hands around his throat and I squeezed until he stopped moving. I didn’t mean to kill him, I just wanted to stay alive! Get back to the one I love…”

The brunette Traci grabbed the other girl’s hand as Estelle and Hank walked slowly to be beside Connor. Was the deviant seriously giving a confession?

“I wanted her to hold me in her arms again,” The blue-haired deviant continued, “Make me forget about the humans, their smell of sweat and dirty words…”

“C’mon, let’s go,” The brunette urged, tugging lightly to bring her girlfriend with her. 

They ran their way to the fence, climbing quickly and not looking back as they made it to the other side. No one made a move to catch them, only tried to comprehend the heart wrenching confession the Traci made. The three cops looked at each other, trying to confirm they were witnessing the same thing and not taking action. 

Connor’s LED shone a bright dandelion, for once not sure what to do with himself. He stood awkwardly with the gun in his hand, dried blue blood stained his upper lip and his mind raced a mile a minute.  _ Why couldn’t he shoot? _

“It’s probably better this way,” Hank looked at Connor, noticing his LED and heading back inside the Eden Club. Something had changed in him too, slightly. 

Estelle was strangely quiet, leaning on one foot and staring at the fence with an indescribable emotion. Connor looked over, his LED still yellow and trying to process what happened. Estelle finally looked away from the fence, meeting Connor’s eyes for the first time since finding the deviants.

“Are,” Connor stuttered, “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” Estelle breathed, wiping the blood from her face, “Yeah. You?”

“I’m okay,” Connor looked down at the gun in his hand. 

“I think it’s good that you didn’t shoot,” Estelle started to turn around and walk away, “Hank’s right; it’s probably better this way.” 

Estelle limped away, remembering something from her life before. She remembered something from seeing those girls together and she wished she never did. Connor stood, nearly paralyzed and shaken. 

_ Why didn’t he shoot? _

_ And why didn’t he regret not shooting? _


	5. ⚙︎ Chapter Five: Secrets ⚙︎

**_【_ ** **_November 7th, 2038, 1:19_ ** **_】_ **

The music blared through the speakers on Hank’s car, Rocket 455’s ‘Johnny Lawless’ falling upon Connor’s metaphorical deaf ears as he thought about his next move in the investigation. It was insanely late, most of the city was asleep in the quietness of the night while Hank sat on a park bench, drinking away his stable mind. Estelle sat in her jeep in the parking lot to make sure he would be okay. It was endearing to Connor how much Hank and Estelle cared for each other, although Estelle was damaging herself.

The snow fell lightly as Connor stepped out of the car, silencing the rock music Hank left playing. The wind swirled, creating a mini-tornado of ice crystals while the fallen snow crunched softly under his dress shoes. The city lit up like a palace, a place full of the few still-bustling people of the city. The sound of cars in the distance and the water rushing underneath the bridge filled the air, giving the city life even at its most lifeless point. 

Connor walked over to Estelle’s car window, knocking lightly to try and talk to her. As she was rolling the window down, Connor noticed a bundle in her arms. She rubbed it in between her fingers, pulling it closer to her in what seemed to be a nervous tic. It might have been a grounding tactic, or perhaps something she does out of boredom?

“What’s that?” asked Connor, pointing slightly to the bundle of fabric in her arms.

“This? It’s a blanket I carry around with me,” Stella held out the blanket slightly so Connor could see, “When I get nervous or overwhelmed, I tend to just play with it. If it’s really bad, sometimes I’ll hug it but…”

Estelle stopped talking, looking up at Connor. He was intrigued, he wanted to understand the emotional reach and needs of this girl, every habit and emotion she had. He wanted her to keep speaking and help him adapt to humans, to become the perfect partner for the police force and for Hank and Stella as individuals. He wanted to  _ learn _ .

“I don’t want to bore you,” Estelle looked towards Hank, “Go do what you were going to do,”

Was it too personal? Had he screwed up again? 

Estelle seemed to close up more and more with every second they were together. She was so friendly and open and now, although still friendly, she was closing up and keeping details. Perhaps she was uncomfortable in his presence or what he had done that morning before still made her anxious. What happened on the roof might have shaken her or even the deviants at the Eden Club could’ve given her a bad reputation of androids. 

Connor decided not to ask about her closing up, not yet. If he had, it might destroy any chance he had at accomplishing his mission of integrating into the DPD. It might destroy the friendship they seemed to have.

“All right,” Connor nodded softly, “Have a good night, Stella,”

“You too,” Estelle said as she rolled up her window. She tossed her head back against the headrest of her seat, rubbing the blanket between her fingers. The radio played, helping her calm down from the events at the Eden Club. Everything seemed to taunt her, even her music began to taunt her with their timely lyrics.

_ And you keep on falling, baby, figure it out. _

Connor walked over to Hank, standing beside the bench he sat on incorrectly and admiring the view. 

“Nice view, huh?” Hank slurred slightly, “I used to come here a lot before…”

Before what? Connor looked at Hank, trying to observe anything that could give him a clue. He had many questions he wanted to ask, he always had so many questions but he always tied himself to one, not to overwhelm people.

“May I ask you a personal question, Lieutenant?”

“Do all androids ask so many personal questions or is it just you?” Hank grumbled, taking another swig of his beer and turning back to the bridge.

“Why are you so determined to kill yourself?”

Connor didn’t expect the Lieutenant to open as much as he did, he only expected a grumble or groan in response. Perhaps an insult on androids but nothing actually personal.

“Some things, I just can’t forget,” Hank stared at the water, thinking too deeply and spilling more than he understood, “Whatever I do, they’re always there, eating away at me. I don’t have the guts to pull the trigger so I kill myself a little every day. That’s probably difficult for you to understand, huh, Connor? Nothing very rational about it.”

Connor didn’t understand but he wanted to. He wanted to understand and adapt to the irrationality of humans. Their thought processes, their decisions, he wanted to learn and understand. The Lieutenant couldn’t forget things that haunt him but what was it in the first place?

From what he remembered, Connor saw a photo of a child on Hank’s kitchen table. He has assumed it was his son, the file labelled him deceased. Was this one of the things that haunted Hank? On top of it, being a cop has been proven to be a very scarring and emotionally draining job; was this a part of it as well?

“What about Detective Winchester?” Connor turned back to the Lieutenant.

“What about her?” scoffed Hank.

“I mean, does she have things that haunt her?” Connor wondered, “Is there a reason she is the way she is?”

“Everyone has something, she just doesn’t have much,” Hank chuckled dryly as he took another swig of beer.

“What do you mean, Lieutenant?”

“Doesn’t remember shit from before she showed up at the station over two years ago,” Hank shook his head, clicking his tongue, “The worse thing she got that we know of is that fucking prick, Jackson.”

“What happened to them?” Connor tilted his head, remembering Jackson from the coffee shop, “Why do you two have such a dislike for him?”

“The guy is an abusive druggie! Stuck on fuckin’ Red Ice and tried to bring her with him.”

Connor remembered Jackson’s criminal record from his scan.  _ Drug dealing, drug possession, assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault and battery, arson, and domestic abuse.  _ Did Hank just spill the most personal detail about the Detective’s life?

It made sense to him now. How she acted in the coffee shop and how she acted around Jackson. It made sense why she was closing herself off from Connor; it was out of  _ fear _ . Stella didn’t like being around men, or she was scared of people in general. There was probably more on top of it, Connor wanted to dig into it more but he felt he was intruding on her personal life too much. It was to be able to adapt to her personality, wasn’t it?

“What was she like before she met Jackson?”

“She wasn’t  _ too  _ much different, believe it or not,” Hank felt nostalgic, “She was braver, had more fire in her eyes. That fucking prick put the fire out, haven’t seen it since,”

“Have you ever noticed the...” Connor struggled to find the right words, “Tics that she seems to have?”

“Tics?”

“Small things she does when she gets nervous or overwhelmed, like mess with her keychain or reach for the blanket she has in her car,”

“Oh, yeah, she’s always done that,” Hank was starting to become sceptical of Connor, “It only got worse after Jackson showed up… Why are you so interested in her anyways?”

Connor couldn’t really answer that question with precision; there were plenty of reasons. For the sake of adapting to both of her and the Lieutenant’s personalities, to know her as a person and make sure his mission was successful, and adapt to human unpredictability as a whole. That had to be all, right?

“For the sake of adapting,” Connor left it at that and walked in front of Hank, “We’re not making any progress in this investigation! The deviants have nothing in common! They’re all different models, produced at different times, in different places,”

“There has to be  _ some  _ link,”

“What they have in common is this obsession with rA9,” Connor tried to produce a logical explanation for their mutual obsession, “It’s almost like some kind of… myth. Something they invented that wasn’t a part of their original program.”

“Androids believing in God,” Hank shook his head, mumbling, “What the fuck is this world coming to?”

An Android God? Is that what rA9 could’ve been, not a virus as originally thought? Hank seemed preoccupied, not giving much as of good input for the investigation. Even though it was late, Hank insisted he wasn’t tired.

“You seemed preoccupied, Lieutenant. Is it something to do with what happened back at the Eden Club?”

Hank scoffed again, looking down at his beer before looking at Connor. He would never understand the emotions he felt, or what those girls felt. Connor was a machine and nothing more to him.

“Those two girls, they really seemed…” Hank paused, trying to look for any logical words to use for the deviants, “In love. They just wanted to be together,”

“You seem troubled, Lieutenant,” Connor said ironically, “I didn't know machines could have such an effect on you,”

“What about you, Connor?” Hank stood up, stumbling over to Connor drunkenly and clearly looking for a fight of some sort, “You look human, you sound human but what are you really?”

Connor was a machine designed to accomplish a task, at least literally. Metaphorically, he was anything. He was everything and nothing all at once; living and nonliving, feeling and unfeeling, human and machine. He could be anything if he truly wanted. But he was a machine, and machines don't  _ want  _ anything.

“I’m whatever you want me to be, Lieutenant,” said Connor, “Your partner, your buddy to drink with, or just a machine designed to accomplish a task.”

“You could’ve shot those two girls, but you didn’t,” Hank growled, shoving Connor back, “Why didn’t you shoot, Connor? Some scruples suddenly enter into your program?”

No. He self-tested regularly, there was no way. He was a machine, he wasn’t a deviant. 

【 _ Software Instability _ ▲ 】

“No!” Connor’s voice was laced with heavy conviction, “I just decided not to shoot, that’s all!”

Hank raised his gun to Connor’s head, his eyes threatening to pull the trigger and end Connor right then and there. Hank didn’t know what happens to androids when they die, when they stop working and shut down, but right now he wanted to find out. Connor stood nearly emotionless. Nearly.

“But are you afraid to die, Connor?”

He wasn’t afraid, no. He couldn’t be afraid, could he? Everything screamed yes, warnings flooded the corners of Connor’s vision,  _ was  _ he afraid?

“I would certainly find it regrettable to be...Interrupted before I can finish this investigation…”

Estelle looked up from her lap, seeing Hank have a gun to Connor’s head. Her heart raced as she nearly fell out of the car, running over to the two of them while shouting Hank’s name. She stood in front of Connor protectively, arms spread as a way to cover him despite her small size.

“Hank, what the fuck are you doing!” Hank put the gun down defeatedly, grabbing his beer and walking away, “Where the hell are you going?”

“To get drunker! I need to think…”

Hank slammed his car door as he got in, driving away haphazardly to Jimmy’s bar. Estelle put her arms down, staring at the ground in front of her and letting out the breath she didn’t realise she was holding. She was on the verge of tears, about to break down and scream right then and there but she had to control herself.

“You didn’t need to do that, Stella,” Connor tilted his head to look at her in the face, “Why  _ did _ you protect me?”

“I’ve seen too many androids die lately,” Stella pulled her hair, groaning, “And I don’t want you destroyed.”

Stella tried walking back to her car, groaning and pulling her hair. Connor caught up with her, trying to figure out what happened; what went wrong?

“Are you alright?”

“No, I’m not! I’m stressed, I have too much on my mind,” Estelle was crying heavily now, “I-I’m sorry, I think I’m just going to calm down then head home,”

“Let me drive, you’re in no condition to.”

Estelle didn’t have the energy to argue, only got in the passenger side and grabbed her blanket. Connor got in the driver’s side, finding the directions to Estelle’s house on her directions app on her car screen. She was slightly calmer, only sniffling every now and again. For some reason, Connor felt the need to console her in some way, there was more than what she was telling him.

“I read somewhere that talking about things helps people,” Connor looked at Estelle quickly before focusing back on the road, “Would you like to talk about it?”

“I don’t think you’d understand…”

“I can try,” Connor encouraged her to talk, “Is it something about your memory?”

Estelle’s head shot towards Connor. How did he know about her memory?

“Lieutenant Anderson told me that you couldn't remember your life before 2036,” 

“Yeah, I was a hopeless Jane Doe case,” Estelle took a deep breath, “Back at the Eden Club, with those two girls. I remembered something,”

Had Connor succeeded in getting her to open up again? What could’ve she remembered about her life before? Connor stayed silent, listening intently as he drove.

“I had a best friend in middle school and high school...Her name was Maya,” Estelle started playing with her blanket, looking down at her hands sadly, “I ended up catching feelings for her and when I told her, she wasn’t happy. Her and her family were very homophobic and I hadn’t known. After that, she abandoned me and I ended up getting attacked and ridiculed by a lot of people. I got so scared that one summer, I went down to my aunt’s in Orlando for a visit. I also had some friends down there so it wasn’t like I was completely alone. My fear only got worse when I was walking back to my aunt’s from a friend’s and…”

Estelle stopped talking, taking in a deep breath and sighing heavily. Connor parked the car in front of Estelle’s house, turning towards her to give her his full attention. Despite him being an android - A non-deviant android - he seemed so emotional and understanding. This android would be the death of her.

“I was walking past a club and heard gunshots,” Estelle looked down at her hands, ready to cry again, “I only got a quick chance to look at the club before I ran but it was a gay bar. I knew after that I would never be safe with myself and who I was. I wanted to fight through it but I was scared. There was something that helped me but I don’t know what it was, my memory only reaches so far…”

“You were scared of coming out as a lesbian?” Connor tilted his head, LED switching between yellow and blue, “Does Lieutenant Anderson know?”

“Oh, I’m not a lesbian, I’m bisexual but…” Estelle looked up, wiping her tears, “No, not that I know of but people have told me it’s obvious about me,”

Connor wasn’t sure what he could do to help her, if he could do anything. He read somewhere that hugging people could sometimes help, but was this really a time or a place? He wasn’t designed for that, he didn’t know what he was doing and it wasn’t part of his mission unless this was to create a better relationship with her.  _ That  _ was part of his mission.

[ ◯ ] _ Don’t hug her _

**[** **⤬** **]** **_Hug her_ **

He pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her shoulders tightly as she sat there stiffly. After a couple of seconds, she hooked her arms around his torso, enjoying the touch she never got. Usually, touch from anyone other than Alyia and Hank would make her uncomfortable but now she felt safe. The wonders of technology, huh? Estelle pulled herself away, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and looking up at Connor. 

“How are you getting back to Cyberlife?”

“I called a taxi,”

“I’ll see you out,”

Estelle and Connor got out of her car, standing on the sidewalk together. It was quiet, the only noise being from the city farther off and other commotion in other places in the city. Estelle was about to invite Connor inside but the Taxi arrived, parking close to the sidewalk and opening the door for Connor to get in. 

“Hey,” Estelle called, just as Connor got in, “Thanks,”

“For what, Detective?”

“Everything,” Estelle hugged herself in an attempt to get warm, “It means a lot to me, really,”

“It was no problem,” Connor smiled crookedly, “You should get inside, it’s below 30 out here. Goodnight, Detective,”

“Goodnight, Connor,” Estelle said as the door closed and the taxi moved away, taking Connor back to the bright tower in the Belle-Isle district. She stood for a few moments, watching the taxi pull away before unlocking the door to her house, stepping inside and seeing Alyia stood nervously in front of the door, “Good evening?”

“We have a guest,” Alyia said anxiously. Estelle threw her head back and groaned, taking off her coat in frustration as Alyia opened the door to her bedroom.

“For fuck’s sake, are you joking?” Estelle took off her shoes, turning around, “It is 2 am and I’ve had a long day with a very traumatic- Markus!”

Markus stood in her living room, trench coat on and his eyes heterochromatic; a large contrast from the pear eyes she remembered. She was led to believe Markus was dead, torn apart and shot in an android graveyard surrounded by the bodies of his fellow androids. Estelle couldn’t believe her eyes, she had tried to reopen Markus’s case, not just for the sake of proving his innocence but for the sake of Carl.

“How are you- I thought you were dead!”

“I woke up in a junkyard and tried to find pieces to repair myself,” Markus started to walk towards her, “I thought I was dead but life has a funny way of giving you a second chance,”

“Why are you here?” Estelle started to panic, “Not that I’m not happy to see you! My house just isn’t safe for you here,”

“I know, I’m not planning on staying long,” Markus leaned against the back of Estelle sofa, sighing lightly, “I found a safe haven for deviant androids called Jericho. That’s where I have been for the past few days, I’ve been trying to start a revolution,”

“A revolution?” Estelle smiled quickly but it went back to a panic rather quickly, “That’s brilliant but why have you come here?”

“A few reasons, actually. I know you were trying to reopen my case,” Markus smiled, “Thank you for that but I know you’re a cop and an Android rights activist, so I wanted to ask you if you wanted to somehow be a double agent,”

“A double agent?”

“I know it’s a lot to ask and you definitely don’t have to-”

“I’d fucking love to!” Estelle chuckled, “I’m close with the Deviant Hunter they’ve sent out so I can keep him as far away as possible without it being suspicious!”

“Thank you,” Markus turned somber, “But I have another thing,”

“What’s up?”

“I think it would be a good idea for Alyia to come to Jericho,” said Markus as Alyia looked down, “For safety reasons, of course. With being so close to the Deviant Hunter, I don’t think it’s in her best interest to be here especially if she wants to help with the revolution,”

“No, I completely agree,” Estelle sighed, “I want to help you guys get this revolution going and if an empty house is what I have to face to do it, no big deal! I’ll just lie and say she went to see family in Canada or something,”

“Thank you, Stella,” Alyia hugged her best friend tightly, nearly on the verge of tears, “I don’t know how long it will be,”

“That’s all right,” Estelle pulled back, grabbing her coat again, “I’ll walk you guys to a train station. Don’t tell me where Jericho is, I don’t want anyone to be able to find out through me,”

Markus simply nodded while Alyia grabbed what she needed to leave. Estelle was upset, whether she liked to admit it or not. Alyia was the only thing she had, at the end of the day. Her best friend, roommate, person to talk to and everything. Sure, she had Hank but he was always drunk or gave her the advice to punch someone.

Estelle, Markus, and Alyia walked down the sidewalk, heading towards the nearest train station to the house. She wanted to tell Alyia about the day; about what Rupert said and what those two girls helped her remember but she wasn’t sure if saying it around Markus was a good idea.

“So, I remembered something today…”

“What? About your life before?” Alyia asked quickly, earning a curt nod, “What was it? What even happened today?”

Markus knew about her memory and knew her almost as well as Alyia did. He perked up, looking at Estelle eagerly. He always wanted to hear about her life and her cases.

Estelle explained the whole day in vivid detail, every small bit put in and stressed to be burned into their memory in case she forgot. The deviant on the roof, the deviant at the club, the two girls at the club, the talk and the hug. The day was insane, filled with much more action than she anticipated. 

It made her think, she had so many questions; Why had Rupert called her ‘The Protector’? Why had Connor hugged her? What was up with that blonde android at the club?

“Woah, Connor  _ hugged _ you?” Alyia laughed dryly, “I don’t think he’s robotic as everyone thinks,”

“I don’t know,” Estelle shook her head as they arrived at the train station, “I know he’s not deviant but I don’t know what it is about him!”

“I think you’re catching feelings, Stell,” Alyia chuckled, “Admit it and you’ll move on faster,”

“I do not!” Stella rolled her eyes, pushing Alyia playfully, “If you guys need me, please call me. It was wonderful to see you again, Markus, despite the circumstances,”

“You too, Stella,” Markus pulled up the way to Jericho, “Let’s go, Alyia,”

“Goodbye, Stella,” Alyia hugged her one last time, heading toward the train just pulling up, “I think you should try to figure out what that blonde one’s problem is!”

Estelle waved as the train doors closed, moving steadily out of the station and starting their journey towards Jericho, wherever it may be. She began to walk back to her house, feeling more empty than before and remembering old times before Connor came along and seemingly screwed everything up. She knew it wasn’t Connor solely, but it felt like trouble followed him wherever he went. Cyberlife and Trouble must be synonyms.

She thought back to when she first met Markus, she felt like everyone knew something but her. Estelle had just gotten the job as Detective at the DPD and Carl Manfred had asked her to visit his home. Seeing as she was a big admirer of his work, she was terrified.

_ Estelle knocked on the door of the large house, waiting anxiously with Alyia at her side. A young green-eyed android answered the door, looking over the two women. _

_ “Detective and friend, Carl has been expecting you,” Markus let the two women in, “I’m Markus, Carl is just in here,” _

_ The women looked around the extravagant home in awe, admiring many paintings and other pieces of art littering the home. Markus led them to what seemed to be a sitting room, a piano, a dining table and a couple of sofas filled the space, Carl sat at the chess board, looking over at the group and smiling. _

_ “Detective!” Carl put his hand out, shaking her hand lightly, “It’s wonderful to see you again!” _

_ Estelle cocked her head lightly as Carl shook Alyia’s hand and looked at Markus. _

_ “I mean, I’ve seen you all over the news! Extraordinary work!” _

_ “Oh, thank you, Mr Manfred!” Estelle was shaking, “I’m a huge fan of your work!” _

_ “Oh, please, call me Carl!” He waved the two girls over to the dining table, “Markus, would you mind making us some tea?” _

_ Markus went to the kitchen to fetch the tea and Alyia followed. Estelle and Carl talked, finding out they had a lot in common and set up visits for every few months. Painting visits, talking visits, random visits, whatever it was that day. _

There was still more on her mind, the events of the day were too overwhelming to ignore. Estelle walked into her house, noticing how empty it felt as the heat kicked on. She hoped for a moment of alone time after all of this but this was lonely, she wasn’t sure how long it’s been since she’s slept a night in the house alone. 

The house was lonely and silent, the only thing to stimulate that someone lived here was the dishes in the sink and the smell of the air freshener in the room. The sofa was set up and the TV was off, nothing but deafening silence filling the room. Estelle wanted to throw things, destroy her house and express her anger on anything but she decided not to; she would have to clean it up either way so she decided to just get ready for bed so she wasn’t completely dead for shopping in the morning. 


	6. ⚙︎ Chapter Six: Spectrum ⚙︎

**_【_ ** **_November 7th, 2038, 05:54_ ** **_】_ **

_ After all of this time, she thought she was safe. From the ridicule, the attacks, the harassment. But it came back to haunt her like the vengeful ghost of her forgotten past, always just out of reach.  _

_ Her skin was a tawny brown, shone in the shining sun like she was dipped in honey. Her lips a lovely, soft rosewood colour and her voice sweet as saccharin. Everything about her was captivating; the way her hair curled perfectly to frame her face and how her brunette eyes turned a near gold as the setting sun.  _

_ “I love you…” _

_ It was normal for them to say they loved each other but they both knew this wasn’t normal, not  _ their _ normal. Coming from Estelle, this was pure, romantic love. The need to protect her and make sure she never had to be hurt again, the need to protect her heart and keep her away from anyone that would try to steal her away.  _

_ Maya wasn’t mad, at least not at first. She was more shocked if anything, hurt and hope flooded her eyes before she stood from the bed, heading over near her door. Estelle knew she fucked up, she  _ always _ fucked up. This time, it was different. _

_ After Estelle sat up, Maya tugged her by her wrist, pulling her close and looking at her in a way she never had before. The height difference between them was near perfect and the sun shining through the curtains gave the room a movie glow, the water splashing outside made the room smell of saltwater and Maya’s perfume. Maya leaned down slightly, their lips mere inches apart.  _

_ Estelle had been wanting this for a long time, she hoped that Maya would make the move and do it, that this would end differently than the first time. Her eyes were closed, waiting for anything to happen between them. It felt right but felt so wrong, there was something else tugging. _

_ “I’m sorry,” Maya leaned in, connecting their lips hastily and pulling Estelle closer to her.  _

_ The strawberry gloss from Maya’s lips spread onto Estelle’s, messily making it to around her mouth while Maya moved her hair from her face. The kiss was everything Stella ever dreamed of; Soft, full of passion, completely and utterly Maya. It changed though, The taste of lip gloss faded and changed into something more synthetic yet just as sweet. Still soft, more passion, less feminine. It was  _ better,  _ emotionally _ .  _ Why was it better, who was it that captivated Estelle’s heart like this? _

_ “I’m not the one.” A new voice spoke; a familiar, sweet and deeper voice, a tinge of regret laced within his tone.  _

_ Estelle wanted to question, opening her eyes to see a different pair of brunette eyes. He wasn’t Maya, no, he was a mere machine. Somehow holding her more gently than Maya ever had and ever will, his eyes softer and more gorgeous than hers, the same light gave Estelle a feeling she’s never felt. Electricity shot through the place where Connor’s hand connected with her skin, her stomach did backflips as the smell in the room changed; Saltwater and Connor’s cologne. _

Estelle shot up in her bed, coming back to reality from her night terror drenched in sweat as her alarm blared deafeningly as her heart was pounded in her chest. The clock read 5:45 am; She tried to take a breath, stumbling to her bathroom. Flipping the light revealed her own reflection, pale and drained. Dark circles under her eyes were sangria, reminding her of the haunting spectrum of dreams that kept her from resting properly almost every night.

_ I’m not the one _ was the exact phrase Maya used to abandon Estelle all those years ago, somehow it hurt more coming from Connor, she didn’t want to admit she was starting to catch feelings for the android because she wasn’t. It was subconscious torture aimed at her heart; Her mind didn’t have anything to use against her, using the most recent and trauma-filled memories against her in an attempt to bring her down. 

_ Never an android _ was always a phrase Estelle liked to use when it came to relationships because even though there were deviants, it was frowned upon and what deviant would like her? Estelle realised her heart liked to put her in positions of danger and oppression, loving people she couldn’t without the harassment of other people. She loved too much and didn’t care what she had to go through to be able to love a person, Maya was a great example of that.

The dream began to fade from her memory, no less haunting than before. Turning on the shower drowned out the empty silence of the house, a blatant reminder of the ever changing world as she knew it. A revolution was beginning soon, there was no avoiding that, the matter of who was involved was the factor that determined who won and whether or not Estelle would have to live alone for the rest of her life. Alyia was part of a revolution, that fact still seemed impossible to her. She was as well, but not directly. It was a very stressful thing to think about.

After getting ready to leave the house, Estelle went to leave to go to the mall, grabbing a smoothie from her fridge prepared the night before. As she was in the kitchen, she heard a knocking on her front door, much too calm to be Hank. She cautiously walked to the door, opening it to Connor standing in front of her and smiling lightly.

“Good morning, Detective,” Connor chirped, “I came over to check on you since yesterday you seemed very distraught. Are you feeling any better?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Estelle let Connor in, neglecting to mention the dream she had, “Thank you for checking on me! It means a lot,”

“It’s no trouble, Stella, simply concerned for my partner’s mental state,”

“Hey, since you’re here,” Estelle closed the door and walked back to her smoothie, grabbing her keys, “Would you like to come to the mall with me, if you aren’t busy?”

“I’d be honoured,” he professed, “It could give us the chance to get to know each other in a non-work related setting,”

“Then, let’s go!” Estelle bubbled, opening the door and walking to her car, “Speaking of non-work related settings, they’re having a masquerade night at Crooked Time tonight! You can come if you’d like!”

“I’d love to,” Connor got in the car, “Will I be required to have a mask?”

“I mean, that would add to the fun, don’t you think?” Estelle chuckled like it was the most obvious thing in the world, handing Connor her phone with her music app open.

Connor wasn’t sure what to pick, simply pressing shuffle and trying to emulate enjoying the music. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it, he didn’t know if he liked it, he couldn’t have an emotional opinion. He noticed the red light ahead and Estelle not really slowing down, looking to the side to inspect why she wasn’t slowing to a stop. She seemed dozed off, obviously falling asleep slightly at the wheel. Connor yelled her name and she slammed on the break, hitting the person in front of her lightly. 

“Genevieve!” Stella fretted, turning to Connor, “I am so sorry, Connor, Jesus fucking Christ…”

Estelle got out of the car, going to the other driver and apologising profusely as she gave them her insurance credentials. Connor got out, wondering what had caused Estelle to make a silly mistake like that and assessing the damage to the car. Luckily there wasn’t much, only a few hundred dollars in repairs and her insurance would most likely cover it. Connor racked his systems; Estelle had no accidents on record prior to this, what had caused her to become careless?

“Sorry again, I should’ve been more careful!” Stella walked away from the other car as they drove away, sitting on the concrete and groaning into her hands, “I’m so stupid,”

“Don’t say that Detective,” Connor opened the driver’s side door for Estelle as she walked over and got in. He got in on the passenger’s, “May I ask why you were falling asleep?”

“Sorry, I just didn’t sleep well last night,” Estelle chuckled lightly, “I think I’ll be good now, that scared me awake,”

Estelle was okay driving for the rest of the time, much more alert than before the accident. Connor assumed the adrenaline had snapped her out of her dazed state, he still wondered what had caused it. She didn’t sleep well, perhaps a nightmare or bad sleeping conditions? 

The mall ceiling reached far above their heads, rain pounded on the glass and the grey sky somehow gave the entire mall lobby a bright light. Stores advertised their sales with bright and extravagant designs, the mixing smell of perfume and cologne testers from various stores collided to give the area of the mall its own unique scent. Teenagers walked around, chittering with their friends over the latest gossip or trend in its midst, some giving Connor a smile as they walked past. He couldn’t help but be fascinated with people and their behaviours. 

Watching people was tantalising to Connor, something about how they reacted to things and how various their reactions could be was intriguing to him. Watching most older people give him dirty looks while the majority of the youth treated him as equal was a fascinating thing, their variations made him want to look into human behavior but he kept himself at bay; he would learn in due time. He hoped being around Estelle and Hank would help with the learning process, their vast differences would create a large spectrum for Connor to go off of, adjusting to a wide variety of people.

The walk through the shopping mall was serene yet stressful, other people taking time to scowl in Connor’s direction. Other androids were with their owner’s shopping, carrying bags or watching over children while their owners shopped; it must’ve seemed like a similar situation to strangers with Connor and Estelle. Estelle walked into a store, Connor followed hastily in as to not lose her.

Stella walked over to a section of clothes, picking an outfit of a white crop top and skirt, the belt having a heart-shaped buckle on it and a white heart choker on the hanger.

“I normally wouldn’t wear something like this,” Stella said, “But I think it would be perfect for the party! What do you think, Connor?”

_ [△] Honest _

_ [ _ _ ▢ _ _ ] Ironic _

**_[_ ** **_◯_ ** **_] Logical_ **

“I believe the light colour would clash with your skin tone,” Conor looked over the outfit, taking the hanger and holding it next to her, “It would be too revealing for the weather as well. Perhaps something darker and less revealing?”

Stella took the hanger from Connor’s hand, looking over it rather sadly. She began to look at other clothes with the hanger in hand, still contemplating on getting it.

“Well, I thought it might bounce nicely off the UV lights in the club,” Stella threw the hanger over her arm, “Then again, I have a weird fascination with UV and neon lights,”

Connor’s comment was a nice reminder that he wasn’t human, only a temporary android partner for work and attachment wasn’t an option for her. She couldn’t afford getting attached to the most advanced piece of tech to walk the planet, it would only end in heartbreak and disappointment. The sooner it happened, the sooner she could get over it.

“Usually, Alyia would come clothes shopping with me,” Estelle shook her head at the register, putting the outfit down as the cashier scanned it, “It’s a shame she couldn’t come with! She loves the theme nights at the club,”

“Is the reason you invited me because she isn’t coming?”

“What? No!” Estelle took the bag off the counter, “I invited you because I wanted you to come! Alyia had a family emergency so she’s out of the country at the moment,”

Estelle waved Connor to follow her as she walked out of the store, heading into the one next door. More people threw slurs at Connor for ‘not doing his job’ as an android and carrying the bag, causing Estelle hiss comments at the people in response. 

“Oh, this perfume seems nice,” Estelle was about to hand the bottle to him, shrinking back slightly, “I was going to ask your opinion but I don’t think you can smell it, can you?”

“I can,” Connor took the bottle, putting Stella’s wrist out and spraying a small amount, “I think it’s nice. It suits your personality,”

Estelle smiled and took a closed box off the shelf, walking over to the men’s section of that store. She picked up a blue box, looking at it and smiling up at Connor as he walked over.

“What do you think of this one?”

“Subtle yet strong,” Connor’s LED switched to yellow for a second in thought, “It’s nice.”

Estelle went up to the counter, purchasing the bottles. Connor couldn’t understand why his opinion was important to her when he couldn’t have one in the first place. Perhaps it was her personal issues or the fact that her roommate wasn’t here to shop with her and give her opinion instead.

Estelle walked out of the store, Connor followed at her heels, towering her over because of their vast height difference. She needed to go down the escalator, heading to another store before leaving. She noticed Connor stop at the escalator, stopping before she got on. The large ‘no androids’ hologram blocked the escalator, making her wonder how she hadn’t seen it in the first place. 

She smiled, tugging on Connor’s arm slightly as she opted for the stairs instead, forgetting the escalator was there and happily bouncing down the stairs. Connor followed slowly, a software instability warning showing up in the corner of his vision as Estelle skipped lightly to her next store. He could barely keep up with her speed as she skipped to a costume store, automatically heading to the back. 

Connor watched curiously as she reached for one of the top racks of a mask section, struggling to reach a white and gold masquerade mask. If he had the ability to find something funny, he probably would’ve at that moment. He reached up and grabbed it, handing it to her as she pouted lightly.

“Thanks,” Estelle blushed slightly, turning and grabbing a mechanical-looking mask that covered one eye, “Hey, I think you’d look good with this one!”

“I don’t-”

“You need a mask, Connor,” she giggled, standing on her tiptoes to put it on Connor, “You look great!”

Estelle hastily took it back, skipping to the counter and paying for the masks. She was satisfied with her purchases for the day, distracted from the fact that Alyia had left. Of course, it wasn’t the same without her but having Connor around alleviated the awkwardness and plainness of going to the mall on her own. 

“Thanks for coming with me, Connor,” 

“It’s no problem, Detective,” Connor smiled awkwardly, not entirely sure how to smile in the first place, “I should head back to Cyberlife soon to prepare for the party,”

“Of course,” Estelle didn’t seem annoyed, simply understanding, “Need a ride?”

“I can call a taxi, thank you for the offer,” 

“No problem!” After a small amount of driving, Estelle parked in front of a bakery and a taxi station, “Hey, it might take a bit to get here, wanna come in the bakery with me?”

Connor opened the door for her, his sensors hit with the overwhelming smell of hot pastries and other bakery goods. It brought about a feeling he couldn't describe, if it was a  _ feeling  _ at all. Upon entering the establishment, Estelle immediately started to talk to someone beyond the counter, leaving Connor to his devices and observe the place in detail.

The walls were white and cotton-candy blue striped, well put together and obviously well funded. Tables were clean and spaced out moderately, albeit there were very few tables. The establishment was given an A- in hygiene, much different than the establishments Hank liked to go to. If there was anything that Connor picked up about his new partners, it was that they were polar opposites.

“Finally got yourself a boyfriend who isn’t utter trash?” 

Connor turned his head toward Estelle and the baker, eyes widening slightly as he zoned back into their conversation. Connors LED flashed between yellow and blue a few times before resting on its usual cerulean. Estelle chuckled slightly, grabbing a small bag off of the counter in front of her.

【 _ Software Instability  _ \-  】

“Of course not!” Estelle pointed at Connor vaguely before continuing, “Connor is the new detective prototype that Cyberlife sent in to help us investigate the deviancy cases! He’s been all over the news!”

“You’re not worried about him replacing you and taking your job?”

“And if he does, that’s what happens,” Estelle shrugged, “Connor’s nice, he’s very good company!”

Connor zoned out again as Estelle said her goodbyes to her friend at the bakery, leading him out to the taxi that pulled up not long after stepping outside.

“I hope they didn’t offend you,” 

“Not at all, just unsure if I should say anything,” Connor stepped toward the taxi before he felt his sleeve tugged lightly.

“Wait!” Estelle handed the mask and the cologne bottle to him, “Here, you’ll need these tonight. Come over to my house at 8:30!”

“Thank you,” Connor found himself unable to speak as he watched Estelle skip over to her car, getting in and starting to eat her pastries. He got in the taxi, staring at the box of cologne and the mask, both he would use later that night. Something in him tugged but his diagnostics said he was fine. Connor realised that Cyberlife might take the items away when he got in the building, so he redirected the taxi to go to the DPD instead. As soon as the taxi pulled away, Estelle hit her head on the steering wheel, groaning loudly as her mouth was stuffed with a lemony pastry.

“Am I seriously about to head to the Eden Club to buy an android with a sight problem?” Estelle sat up, putting her car in gear as she took another bite of her pastry, “Yep.”

The Eden Club gave away the android gladly, they seemed quite happy to be rid of the poor thing, not even bothering to get a receipt or anything for it. Usually, androids are taken care of and pretty tough to get your hands on, especially if they’re from a chain or club but this one was way too easy. Estelle felt lucky that she had an old hoodie in her car from her ex, not bothering to get rid of it for this exact situation. 

She had never done this before but she was hoping to be able to do it smoothly. The Eden Club didn’t even make a receipt for the purchase, making it extraordinarily easier for her to hide where she was bringing the android. You would’ve thought she bought it for her own use like most patrons but that was never the case for her. 

Estelle pulled into a mostly empty parking lot, digging in the back of her car through the large spectrum of leftover and thrifted clothes that might fit the android. Hoodies, different pants and trousers, t-shirts; all from her ex or thrifted from various thrift shops. The android looked at her skeptically but also as if he knew something about her, which was it?

“Here, put these on,” Estelle took a small tool kit from the back of her car, hidden underneath the back seat, “I’ll take out your LED as soon as you-”

“Why are you helping me?” The android questioned almost rhetorically, like he was waiting for an answer he already knew. Estelle turned red, looking the android in the face and noticing his obnoxious eyebrows made him look more intimidating than intended.

“I-I don’t know…” Estelle dug deep into her mind for an answer, “Androids deserve to be free. Something about helping them just feels right,”

“You have a missing piece, helping us fills that gap temporarily, doesn’t it?”

Estelle looked at him flabbergasted; If she didn’t know any better, she’d say he was designed as a psychiatrist or therapist model android. It was like there was a one way mirror between them, he could see right through her but not the other way around. Something about this android prodded a place in her mind, a place she didn’t know she had, probably long lost to her amnesia.

“Yeah, I guess,” Estelle looked down as he laughed lightly, “I’m Stella, by the way,”

“Yeah,” He paused, quickly changing what he was going to say, “I’m Colin,”

“Well, Colin, you need to go to Jericho,” Estelle quickly took out the glowing LED on the side of the android’s head, putting it in her pocket for later disposal. She handed him a phone - A burner phone - and insisted he take the information on it, “The location to Jericho is in that phone, take it and go. I have no idea where it is, I have it on here just in case I were to run into any more deviants,”

Colin handed the phone back after extracting the information, staring quizzically towards Stella. He had many questions about her, most she likely wouldn’t be able to answer.

“You’re a detective, working with that new detective model prototype, right?”

“Yes,”

“You’re taking a huge risk helping people like me, you know that, right?”

“I would be taking a huge risk if I didn’t,” Estelle scoffed, putting the car back in gear, “What’s life without a little adventure?”

Colin’s mouth twitched slightly at the comment, somehow it was something he was expecting her to say. He knew even after he went to Jericho, he would see her again somehow and he knew this wasn’t the last time he’d have to talk about the deviant hunter. 

Estelle dropped Colin off at a bus station, driving home as quickly as possible just in case Connor would show up early, she had a bit before he would show up so she took the opportunity to think over what Colin had said. A missing piece?

There was a lot missing from her life, her memories from years prior being a large chunk of that piece. After remembering Maya, she was certain that her amnesia was a gift, not a curse. Since that day two years ago, she tried to remember something,  _ anything _ , and now that she has, she knows now to be careful what she wishes for. Colin must’ve been talking about something else, another piece she was missing that he could see and she couldn’t. 

Perhaps this piece that was lost was something everyone could see, sitting on a pedestal waiting for her to notice it and claim it back. Maybe this piece was something had yet to find, something she didn’t know she needed in the first place, maybe Colin knew exactly what it was; Maybe everyone around her knew what it was, she just chose to deny it.

That wouldn't explain why helping androids helped that void. Thinking about this made her remember what the deviant, Rupert, called her before he jumped off the roof; The Protector. What did that have to do with her, how did he know who she was?

Rupert could’ve seen her on the news or on the DPD website, although those two things seemed unlikely. The poor guy seemed to never step outside his apartment even if he had to, the chances of him knowing who she was were low. Did Androids have prophecies, like in movies and books? RA9 seemed to be an Android god, was ‘The Protector’ an Android Guardian Angel that Rupert mistook her for? 

A knock on the front door interrupted her thoughts, making her sigh heavily and trudge to the door. Connor tilted his head slightly as she opened the door, mask on and already ready. The party wasn’t until 9:45, Estelle wasn’t ready at all.

Stella insisted Connor come in, quickly noticing he wore the cologne she bought for him. Oddly enough, it made her slightly happy but she decided not to mention it. 

“You look nice,” Stella stuttered slightly. Luckily, Connor didn’t seem to notice.

“Thank you,” Connor quickly looked her up and down, “Is that what you’re wearing?”

“Oh, no, this is going to sound stupid,” Stella hurried into her room, grabbing her outfit from her closet, “I told you to come here so early because I thought we had to get ready together,”

“I see,” Connor fidgeted with his coin, “Take all the time you need,”

Estelle was about to go wash her hair when she noticed Connor doing his coin tricks, stepping closer slowly, observing the intricate and complicated maneuvers he made with the metal coin. He paid no mind until she was up-close, towel under her arm and watching, trying to find any logical explanation for the impossible movements the small coin made between Connor’s fingers. Something in her mind tugged, a feeling she’s become all too familiar with lately.

“Are you alright, Detective?”

“Of course, just,” Estelle struggled to find words, “Why are you doing that?”

Connor found that question quite odd. Out of all of the questions she could’ve asked - How he was doing that, where he could’ve learned - she asked why. It caught him almost off-guard, mostly because he didn’t know the answer to any of the questions that could’ve been asked.

“This is used as a calibration procedure-”

“You have something wrong with your left hand, don’t you?” Estelle blurted, unable to stop the words pouring from her mouth, “I don’t know why but I feel like you do,”

【 _ Software Instability  _ ▼ 】

“N-Nothing is  _ wrong _ ,” Connor stuttered slightly, looking to the side, “My left index finger needs to be calibrated more often, that’s all,”

Estelle wanted to push it but kept it to herself, overthinking the fact that Connor stuttered and heading to the bathroom to shower and get ready. Connor stood awkwardly near the front door, observing her apartment to pass the time and gather more information about her. 

The walls were a dark grey, covered in pictures and posters, shelves held several paperback books and knickknacks and a desk was in the corner of the living room; it was very similar to Hank’s house arrangement but much cleaner. Estelle didn’t seem to have any pets, although very clear she desired to have one. A few stray pieces of dog hair laid here and there, probably from Hank’s dog.

The kitchen was clean, nearly spotless and expertly designed; everything correlated colour and design wise. The design was a nice, even mix of modern and retro, dark with a nice contrast of light. The look was aesthetically pleasing, much to Connor’s delight. There was something familiar and comforting about the home, whether he knew it or not.

He picked up a photo placed face down on a shelf, picking it up to see it, perhaps figure out why it was face down. Picking it up caused a few small pieces of glass to fall out of the frame, it was broken. Connor tilted his head as he turned the photo, hoping to find out why it was broken in the first place. The picture of Estelle, hair much longer and a woman to her right. It must’ve been a very old photo, Estelle looked younger in this photo. Scanning the photo brought up basic information about the woman to her right.

【 _ Riker, Maya. Born: 03/13/02 // Librarian… Criminal Record: None _ 】

Was this the Maya that Estelle had mentioned last night?

It seemed that Estelle had this photo up for a while from the dust collected on it and after her memory returned, she broke it out of frustration. Thinking back on what she said, it was only understandable how she felt. 

The bathroom door swung open and Estelle sighed, looking in Connor’s direction and smiling, coming out of the bathroom fully ready. The outfit she brought from the mall earlier that day looked nice on her and didn’t clash with her skin tone like Connor originally thought. Her tattoos on her shoulder were visible now, black and grey roses, clocks and skulls were beginning to make their place on her skin and her outrageous yet stylish makeup made her look much more lively.

“Hey, what do you think?” Estelle twirled around jokingly, laughing at herself as she did so.

【 _ Software Instability  _ ▲ 】

“You look lovely,” Connor smiled. Looking at the clock, it was already 9:30. He hadn’t realised how much time had passed when he was looking around.

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” Estelle stepped toward Connor, looking him up and down as she grabbed her keys, “Should we go?”

“Of course,” Connor opened the front door.

There was something bothering Connor, an itch in the back of his mind. Everything having to do with Estelle seemed so familiar, yet so foreign, the feeling made his systems go haywire. He shouldn’t feel anything, he doesn’t. He would question later because right now, he had a party to go to. 


	7. ⚙︎ Chapter Seven: Prototype C ⚙︎

**_【_ ** **_August 15th, 2021, 07:28_ ** **_】_ **

The prime white hallways of the hallways made the lights seem much brighter than they actually were. The mechanical smell wafted through the building at an ungodly rate, this floor specifically full of production for new models of Android. Elijah walked past many of his employees, giving them small greetings as he made his course through the twisting hallways to find his partner’s office, one of many in the building. 

Elijah knew better than anyone that she’d be in this office specifically, the new line of androids she was working on took most of her time recently and, as of late, the one on this floor was the only one that had been occupied in months. The smell of oil and solder became slightly stronger upon coming across the hallway he needed to get to, opening the door to her office and thankfully, being greeted by air freshers of all sorts.

“Hey, Stel,” Elijah closed the door behind him, looking at the screen the woman was intently focusing on, “What are you working on?”

“Hey, Elijah! Right now, I’m finishing the coding for that RK model!” 

“The 200?”

“No, the other one,” Estelle pressed enter, leaning back in her chair, looking out the window in front of her, “I’ve tried to make it as human as possible so it could integrate into its job as smoothly as possible, whatever it may be. Nanny, detective, caretaker, shopkeep, whatever we decide it to be!”

Estelle watched proudly as the assembler in front of her office window worked its magic, putting together androids parts at a steady and efficient pace. No one knew about this model of android, this was Estelle’s personal project, solely for her and Kamski’s eyes until she can go to a board meeting and present the new model. Originally, the board didn’t want them going off on their own and doing anything personal but it was Estelle and Elijah, they never listened.

“What did you want to call it again?” Elijah asked, mesmerised and watching as the android was almost completely assembled.

“I was thinking of another C name like I did with Cameron,” Estelle turned to Elijah, “Connor?”

“I like it,”

“I’m glad, I don’t know why but I thought it was a fitting name for his design,” Estelle slid over the original facial design to Kamski, “I’ve also added a ‘mind palace’ complex where he could send in reports and he could have a guide or something there. I’m thinking he should be a detective!”

“Are you going to do the initial calibration test?”

Estelle stopped as the android was ready to power on, stuttering slightly.

“I mean, I would _like_ to go through the entirety of its testing if that’s a possibility but I know that’s impossible-”

“Who says it’s impossible?” Elijah shrugged, “No one knows it exists, why not use it as a prototype like deal? It is a prototype model after all,”

“That’s,” Estelle smiled, picking up her tablet, “That’s not a bad idea!”

There were still parts needing to be put into place, this model wasn’t as easy to put together as the mass-produced ones due to its prototypic abilities, abilities that could go haywire at any moment with small error. Estelle placed her tablet on the table, slipping on sterile gloves to start placing what needed to be placed.

The stark white exoskeleton glowed blue in certain places, places of joints especially, a good sign that the thirium was making its way successfully through the synthetic body. The synthetic skin paused in the places Estelle needed to access; the torso, forearms and back of the neck, stopping before the android’s face could be constructed by the skin. Estelle opened up the forearm compartment, seeing everything was in order except one, tiny thing. 

“You have got to be joking…”

On the inside, it seemed like nothing was wrong but when you looked at the android’s left hand, the index looked slightly out of place. Checking it, nothing was wrong, Estelle left it hoping it wouldn’t affect any of its motor skills. Next, she moved to the torso, opening it up and spotting three components missing. The first one was a new technology, one that would allow him to scan things in real-time. Another would allow him to withstand slightly colder and hotter temperatures and the last was a processing system. 

This processing system wasn’t a regular one, this processor would allow him to pick up on special cues and hyper fixate on details, which made him near perfect to be an investigator. This processor would allow him to adapt to almost any situation and mould in with his partner’s needs and personality. Inserting all of these components would make him nearly perfect, there was no concept of completely perfect. 

Estelle tilted her head in confusion as she closed the torso compartment, there shouldn’t be any reason why any of the voice or mental components needed to be checked. She grabbed a stepstool, having to use it because of the androids height. 

“No voice module? That makes no sense…” Estelle stepped down and rummaged through her desk, “The machine should’ve done that for me?”

She pulled a small rectangular module, labelled “RK100” in sharpie, designed years in advance for this particular android when it was in early development. It wasn’t certain it was going to work, but seeing as the regular, mass-produced modules wouldn’t work, it was worth a try. 

Inserting the module was easy, moulding perfectly into the module slot and covering up as soon as it was inserted, giving the impression that it was a perfect match. The skin started to spread to the android’s face, revealing the multitude of misplaced freckles and fair skin. As the last part of the skin spread started, Estelle realised something had gone wrong.

“He’s not supposed to be brunette!” Estelle was about to go and see where the problem started, she stared at the android, perfectly unaware in its catatonic state, “Actually… We’ll keep it for now.”

This android was going to be blonde and blue-eyed, in accordance with Estelle’s original design but the more she looked at it now, it suited brunette much more than it ever fit blonde. The android started to power on, opening his mocha eyes and looking down at Estelle.

This android was gorgeous, one of her best works yet, even if it was on accident. If there was ever a thing Estelle had done right, it was this prototype standing in front of her and looking at her with his wide doe-eyes. Estelle decided she was throwing out her blonde designs, the brunette looked much better and if he was going to be in life-threatening situations, blood wouldn’t be visible in his hair if it was dark.

“Hello,” Estelle grabbed her tablet, “Can you hear me?”

“Yes.”

The voice module worked well, unique to the prototype but not unpleasant. He sounded almost raspy but smooth at the same time, calm and collected. While this was going on, a curtain came from the wall and a retractable table offered a Cyberlife uniform to the android to change into.

“State your model and run a diagnostic for me, please,”

“RK100, serial number 313 248 317 - 51,” The android paused, “Everything is fully operational,”

“RK100, register your name,” Estelle said, the android’s brows shot up in anticipation, “Connor,”

“My name is Connor,”

“Connor, please step toward that door over there,” Estelle motioned to a door to the hallway, “I’ll be right back.”

The android stayed silent as standard Android clothes were given to him by a machine; simple white button-up, slacks and a tie, all customed with an identification badge and bright blue Cyberlife logo. Estelle stepped back into her office, surprised to see Kamski still standing there and observing the affair between the android and his partner.

“You like his accidental design?”

“More than the blonde one, yes,” Estelle took a coin out of her desk and a small tool kit, “I hope this goes well,”

“I think it has potential,” Kamski stared at the android, standing awkwardly in the middle of the other room, “Albeit a bit special,”

“I know, it’ll get better the more he’s around people,” Estelle chuckled, grabbing a blazer from a hanger and going back into the room, “It will happen with all the androids fit with the processor!”

Kamski simply left her office, leaving her alone with the new android. He watched as she walked in, skimming her tablet. Estelle handed the blazer to Connor, watching as he put it on.

“Right, first things first,” Estelle placed the other things on the desk in the corner of the room, “Give me your initialization text!”

“My name is Connor, I’m the android sent by Cyberlife,” Estelle nodded, slightly impressed. 

“Next test, basic physical and motor capabilities,”

“Miss O’Cassidy, I can assure you everything is working just fine,” Connor insisted, almost seeming like it would’ve been a waste of his time.

“Maybe so but your diagnostic could be lying,” Estelle marked something on the tablet, “You seem to like protocol so much, you should’ve known that,”

Connor knew she was right, staying silent and waiting for the next task at hand. 

“Follow my movements as best you can,” Estelle put the stuff in her arms down on the desk, “If you’re unable to for any reason, tell me immediately so we may fix the problem.”

These types of tests were kinetic tests; Estelle felt quite silly completing the motions but for the sake of this prototype, she suffered through it. For example, she stuck her arm out, twisting it and moving her fingers with it. This test would benefit Connor by checking if everything was working not only on its own but together as well. By the end of the kinetic tests, only one error was found; the left index.

“Well, I anticipated this,” Estelle sighed, picking up the coin on the desk and handing it to Connor, “It would make no sense to completely disassemble you for a small error that affects you in no way, so try this. I’ve read in books and articles that messing with something like this could strengthen your coordination,”

Connor took the coin, not entirely sure what to do with it. He tried throwing it around, flicking it between his hands and conducting many impressive tricks, all of which would strengthen his hand-eye coordination. Estelle smiled at how quickly he adopted the habit, happy that he was already doing so well.

“I’m going to bring you to my office on the 3rd floor, is that okay?”

“Of course, Miss O’Cassidy,”

“Please, call me Stella,”

The hallways were empty thanks to Stella's request. Nothing was to get in the way of their travels to her office, except when Connor stopped her rounding a corner by grabbing her shoulder gently. She turned to him, furrowing her brows in confusion.

“What’s the matter?”

“Those wires could hurt you if you go near them,” Connor pointed to a panel in the wall, open for maintenance and many wires hanging from it, “Someone was working maintenance when you called everyone away,”

“How’d you figure that out?”

“I scanned the area to make sure it was safe for you.” 

Connor led her away, toward an alternate route to her office. Estelle was impressed, she had high hopes for Connor and was happy to mark down that his scanning component was in full working order. Being with this one was going to be an adventure for sure, one for the history books.


	8. ⚙︎ Chapter Eight: Panic Room ⚙︎

**_【_ ** **_November 7th, 2038, 09:40_ ** **_】_ **

The wine coloured Jeep rolled into the parking lot, parking meticulously into the half-full lot of Crooked Time pub. Estelle gazed at the entrance of Crooked Time and sighed dreamily, moving to put on her mask and look at Connor.

The sign shone a bright purple, the tilted clock ticking teasingly as the official time for the party crept closer. Connor found himself looking forward to the night, hanging out with Estelle and her friends may be a pleasant affair and an excellent chance to get to know her on a deeper level than just at work or a quick venture to the mall. He felt as though he knew her so well yet, not at all, there must be more to her. 

“You ready?” Estelle brought Connor out of his thoughts, bouncing over and fixing his mask so it covered his LED, “Perfect, no one will even know it is you!”

Connor looped his arm through hers, letting her lead him to and through the front door of the establishment. The lights seemed brighter and more lively than the night before, the music pumped louder and the strip club portion was open albeit empty due to how early in the night it was. There were few people already, some were Estelle’s acquaintances and some were regulars, not joining in on the festivities for the night and downing alcohol like any other night. 

A small group gathered in the corner, talking to someone beyond the counter and waving Estelle over. She smiled, tugging Connor’s arm slightly. The pub was starting to become crowded as Stella scurried her way through, dragging Connor along with her to meet with the people in the corner.

“Oh, ho!” One woman purred, stepping towards Connor seductively, “Who’s this?”

“Hands off, Morgan,” Stella stepped between them, slouching slightly at her realisation, “You’re a lesbian, you did that to fuck with me!”

“Affirmative, Detective!”

“Damn, Stella,” A man, Connor recognised as Xian from the night before, wearing a jester’s mask leaned over the counter, “Nice outfit, when are you getting on the backstage?”

“Fuck off, Xian!” Estelle lightly shoved him, jumping slightly as she turned around, “Oh, guys, this is Connor! Connor, This is Morgan and Xian,”

“Nice to meet you,” Connor shook hands with Morgan, “I believe I met Xian the other night,”

“Right on,” Xian started to mix an alcohol concoction, splitting it for both women in front of him.

“Has Gavin shown his dumbass yet?”

“Not yet, I reckon he’ll be in soon,” Morgan chuckled dryly, “You know his thing about being ‘fashionably late’,”

Gavin Reed from the station? Estelle didn’t seem to get along with him, why would he show up here?

“He’ll find us eventually,” Estelle chuckled, patting the seat next to her for Connor to sit, “C’mon, don’t act like you’ve never been to a social function before,”

Estelle winked as Connor sat down, he somehow understood that she was testing his ability to blend in, pretending he was human instead of everyone knowing he was an android just by looking. Xian already knew and seemed to know her plan but Morgan was oblivious. What was the point of this test?

Hank happened to walk through the door at that moment, wearing a poorly made plastic mask from Party City as a make-shift attempt to blend in. He wrote “Don’t talk to me” on the forehead on the mask, very fitting for him and his personality. He couldn’t find Estelle right away, so he stood against the wall near the door, looking to his left and doing a double-take.

“Gavin? The hell are you doin’ here?”

“Estelle invited me, can’t find her though,” Gavin wore a simple wolf mask, the bottom half of his face exposed, “I’m surprised,”

“Why?”

“No one brought her little fuck toy,” Gavin shrugged, “Usually follows you everywhere,”

“Are you talking about Connor?” Hank nearly gagged at Gavin’s overly sexual comment, “Why the hell would he be here?”

“You know Estelle’s too friendly with the prick, might’ve invited him,” Gavin looked toward the bar, nodding at Hank and walking over to the group.

The way Gavin interacted with the group now was vastly different than when he had an argument with his coworkers during work hours. It seemed he didn’t seem to notice Connor, or at the very least didn’t realise he was an android, going on like nothing bothered him. Connor struggled to find a way to approach this, trying to blend in was supposed to be a strong suit yet he has sat in silence the whole time. There had to be a reason for Estelle’s test of ability.

The LED lights powered themselves as a poppy yet smooth tune began to play. Estelle tugged on Connor's arm, a software instability warning appearing in the corner of his vision as he allowed himself to be led to the clear floor. Connor could barely hear Estelle as she yelled in his direction, reading her lips revealed her statement; Dance with me.

What kind of dance would be suited for this song? A waltz, a tango, even a swing? Connor nearly shut down from his processors working too hard, pausing when Estelle roughly moved his hands to her waist and laughed. It was hard to hear through the reverberations of the music, although Connor felt it when his hands connected with her waist.

“You’ve been quiet!”

“What?” Connor shouted. 

Estelle shook her head and led Connor in on a slow and rhythmic dance. Different colours flashed across their faces as they moved, hues of red, blues, purples, whites and greens waved rhythmically with the music, creating a soft and cool atmosphere for the establishment. Estelle was beginning to enjoy herself, she saw Connor’s lips upturn slightly as he moved, looking around lackadaisical as his surroundings, taking in the moment. The mask he wore made no effort to hide that stray strand in the front of his head and made no effort to hide the raw emotion in his eyes. Estelle felt her heartbeat in her ears, eyebrows furrowing in curiosity in her newfound observations.

The lights shut down suddenly as the music slowed, leaving an aura of curiosity and wonder in its wake. The lights began to come up subtly and she noticed the faint smell of sea salt from the bar not far off. Her senses heightened in that moment, the floor beneath her feet felt harsher and the hands against her waist became more evident. It wasn’t until the music’s beat dropped and the bright orange LEDs shot on that her heightened senses made sense, revealing Connor’s now amber eyes as the mix of his cologne and the far off sea salt filled her nostrils.

Everything came flooding back from the night before; the scent of the sea and Connor’s cologne, the feeling of his skin against hers and the way he looked as the setting sun bounced against his synthetic skin, the natural light making Connor’s deep eyes an amber colour as he spoke those breaking words. 

Estelle’s eyes widened and she ripped herself from his grasp, running away to anywhere he wouldn’t be able to find her. She ran away faster than Connor could process, calling her name over the blaring music was useless, the lights flashing dangerously made it difficult to keep track of where she went.

Connor couldn’t understand what had caused her to act so strangely. She was perfectly fine just a moment ago, perhaps something had triggered a panic attack and she ran to be alone and calm down? He would still make the effort to try and find her so she wouldn’t get hurt.

【 _ Software Instability  _ ~  】

The sounds of chanting interrupted Connor’s thought process, his attention being brought to a group of people surrounding what seemed to be a fight. Some loudly placed bets while others chanted on their fighter of choice. Looking through the crowd, two men were throwing punches.

“Say that shit about my daughter again, Gavin, I’ll rip your fucking throat out!”

Hank and Gavin were in the center of the circle, throwing punches in each other's direction. Their masks were long discarded, small splatters of blood covered their faces and the floor. Both were obviously very intoxicated, nearly toppling over and barely keeping their balance. 

“You just don’t like the fact she-”

“Lieutenant!”

“Well, if it isn’t the plastic prick!” Gavin slurred, pointing slightly to Connor’s side, “When the fuck did you get here?”

“You’ve been interacting with me all night, Detective Reed,” Connor tried to steady Hank as the crowd booed, “I think it would be wise to come with me and sober up,”

“The fuck I need to do that for?” Hank scoffed, trying to shove Connor to the side, “I need to tear Gavin to fuckin’ shreds for talking about my daughter!”

Connor nearly sighed as he hooked his arm under Hank’s, leading him out of the circle of people and to the bar, ordering a glass of water from a bartender. Hank tried to argue, failing miserably and placing his head down on the bar counter. He muttered the common, nearly repetitive ‘I think I’m gonna be sick’ as the LED lights began to flash again, nearly making his claim come true. 

“Lieutenant?” Connor tilted his head as Hank groaned, “What started the fight between you and Detective Reed?”

“The prick said some disgusting, sexual shit about Estelle,” he scoffed, “He’s lucky I didn’t rip his fuckin’ throat out! Hand me that glass?”

Connor handed the glass of water to Hank as another software instability warning entered the corner of his sight. Estelle was still nowhere to be seen and her group of friends seemed to have dispersed, no sign of any of their presences in the building. 

“Do you happen to know where Estelle went?”

“No, I haven’t seen her all night,” Hank seemed to just realise who he was talking to, furrowing his brows and nearly scoffing, “What the fuck are you doin’ here?”

“Estelle and I came to the party together,” Connor instinctively looked over his shoulder, “She ran off after we danced together, I’m not sure what triggered it. I was hoping you may have some knowledge as to why she might’ve run away?”

“No clue but it might’ve been because she had to be close to you,” Hank laughed, groaning when his headache strengthened from it, “I don’t know, check around the place, let me know if you find her,”

“Sure, Lieutenant,” Connor nodded in affirmation, walking away and beginning to look around the establishment.

The building wasn’t terribly big, there weren't too many places she could’ve gone. Connor continued to search, often asking people around if they had seen Estelle leave or even hang around the place, all with the same answer. Her car was still in the parking lot, where could she have gone? 

Several hours passed by, the party died down and came to a close and most people were heading home or with other people that had met to their places. Hours had gone by with no sign of Estelle going in or out, Connor began to wonder if something bad had happened after she had run away without his knowledge. She seemed very particular about times, Connor had the idea to wait by her car and see if she would come out. 

If she had left, he had hoped she wasn’t out on her own or passed out somewhere, the cold would surely get to her quickly, especially with what she had decided to wear that night. Perhaps she had gone home with a friend, although she didn’t seem like the type to leave someone on their own. 

Hank stumbled up to Connor, much more sober than hours before but still buzzed. He leaned against the car and let out a breath, looking over at Connor as he tilted his head to the side slightly. The pair watched the clock on the club tick wordlessly, waiting for someone to speak.

“So, did you find Estelle?” 

“I’m afraid not, Lieutenant,” Connor sighed, “I came out here to see if she would come out of the club and so far, she hasn’t,”

“Where do you think she could be?” Hank shifted himself uncomfortably, “Did you try to call her?”

“Yes but no answer,”

“That’s weird. Maybe her phone died and she left with a friend and forgot to tell you,”

“Perhaps,” Connor saw the lights of the bar beginning to shut off, “She doesn’t seem like the type to do that,”

“Usually, she’s not but maybe she got too drunk or something,” Hank groaned, making his way toward his car, “Let me know if you find her,”

“Goodnight, Lieutenant,” Connor watched Hank as he got into his car, sputtering to life and growing smaller as it drove away in the lightly falling snow.

Perhaps Connor should’ve offered to drive Hank home but he didn’t think about it until he was already driving away, his thoughts filled with wondering of Estelle’s whereabouts. The club had long closed and the snow began to fall, the cold following in its products footsteps. 

Connor was about to try to call her again before going to look for her when his phone rang. He answered quickly, hearing a wavering voice on the other side of the phone.

“Connor?” Estelle sniffled, her voice quiet, almost as if to not get caught by someone, “I need you to come pick me up.”


	9. ⚙︎ Chapter Nine: Sleeptalk ⚙︎

**_【_ ** **_November 8th, 2038, 00:36_ ** **_】_ **

“Connor?” Estelle sniffled, her voice quiet, almost as if to not get caught by someone, “I need you to come pick me up.”

“Are you alright?”

“I-I’m fine,” Estelle paused, sucking in a heavy breath, “Can you please come and get me?”

Connor already started to get in Estelle’s car, feeling lucky she had left her bag and keys at the bar and had thought to take them with him. He wasn’t sure how to handle the situation, a sensation pooled in his stomach area hearing her voice waver in such a way.

【 _ Software Instability  _ \-  】

“Of course, where are you?”

“I’ll send you the address,” Estelle swallowed hard and Connor heard her typing on her cell, “Can you hurry?”

“On my way now,” he smiled lightly despite her inability to see it, “See you soon, Detective,”

Stella had hung up the phone, leaving Connor to start the car and start to drive to her location. He couldn’t help but wonder how she got there and why she was there, had she left the party with someone? Gotten too intoxicated and wandered off? 

Why did he  _ care _ ? 

Was the need to protect her and make sure his partner was safe in his program, part of the work protocol? Had they been through enough to warrant a connection of some sort? No, that’s impossible, Connor didn’t have the ability to create emotional connections and they certainly have not had a physical one. 

Connor remembered the night before, Estelle had revealed a deep, dark secret to him. A key to her past and a part of herself to him, something that demonstrates trust. In return, he hugged her and tried to support her in any way he could think of through his extensive research. He did technically have a physical connection with her now that he thought about it. 

No matter the circumstances for his reaction, Estelle needed a ride and Hank was expecting him to protect her with his life. The location was someone’s address, had something bad happened and she was able to call him in an attempt to save her? Of course not, she would’ve called the police. Pulling up to the house and seeing Estelle sitting outside on the concrete calmed his suspicions. 

As he got closer, he saw she was shivering and her lips were blue from the cold. He parked the car quickly, pulling off his jacket as he got out and hurried over to Estelle’s side. Black circles covered her eyes from mascara and eyeliner and she sucked in uneven and shaky breaths, it was evident she had been crying, which seemed to amplify when Connor pulled up. 

Connor wrapped his jacket around her - her exposed skin was cold to the touch - and ushered her to get in the car. He hurried to get in and turn up the heat, there’s no way she would’ve survived much longer out there and who knows how long she was actually out there. 

“What happened?” Connor fretted, searching her face for any answer, “Where did you run off to, why were you sitting out in the cold, why are you crying?”

Connor continued to spew questions, his mannerisms could’ve been mistaken for worry. Estelle stared in shock at him as he continued, confused by why it mattered so much to know the answers to his questions. She couldn’t possibly tell him why she ran off, he would never understand.

“I accidentally slept with Xian!” She yelled. Connor stayed silent for a moment before continuing.

“How do you accidentally sleep with someone?” Connor asked and Stella stayed silent, sniffling.

“Well, I was wasted and kinda, almost thought he was someone else,” Estelle turned to look out the passenger window, “I regret it. I’m sorry I called you to pick me up, I panicked and called you before I knew what was happening.”

Connor tried to find the best approach, he watched as her bottom lip trembled in raw emotion, unable to hold in how she was really feeling like she usually could. Everything screamed that it was an act of emotion and impulsivity, not entirely thought through and even regretted. With this analysis, she hiccuped pathetically, running her hand through her hair. Estelle’s breath was visible when she sighed, looking toward Connor with blotchy eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Looking at you how?” Connor tilted his head slightly, unaware of how you could look at someone in a certain way.

“Like you’re analysing me or judging my actions or like you’re laughing at me internally,” Estelle shook her head and turned away again, “Y-You know my address, right?”

“Of course.”

Connor took that as a signal to drive her home, unable to try and approach the situation at all. His mind wandered to the night before, unsure if that approach would work again and if that was what she needed. After assessing the situation, Connor decided against it and decided to make sure she got into her house safely and got the rest she needed and would approach her in the morning. 

The snow fell softly as Estelle stared out the passenger side window, wanting to punch herself for the situation she had gotten herself into. If it weren’t for the wrong things coming together at the wrong time, the night would’ve gone smoothly and she wouldn’t have left with Xian drunk, thinking he was Connor. If anything, she  _ hoped _ it was Connor, which made the situation all the more disturbing. 

At this point, she had no other option than to admit to herself that she had fallen for an emotionless android with no personality. That’s what confused her, he had virtually no personality but was so full of life and personality, more than she had ever seen in a human. That was the magic of androids for her, and she envied them in a way. 

Estelle jumped at the sudden contact to her shoulder, relaxing slightly when she remembered it was only Connor. He offered to bring her inside, causing her to smile slightly and follow him, grabbing his sleeve as they walked. 

“I would suggest you take pain killers for the headache that will be setting in soon,” commented Connor, leading her into the house and turning on the lights, “Would you mind if I grabbed them for you?”

“Bathroom, behind the mirror,” Estelle shouted, grabbing a bottle of alcohol from under her kitchen counter.

Connor walked out from the bathroom, two pills in hand, and handed them to Estelle. She took them, lapping them down with a swig of vodka as Connor moved to stop her. Her lack of consideration of the effects made him pause, watching as she walked to her couch and collapsed on it, drinking more from the large bottle as she turned the television on.

“Estelle, mixing that medication with alcohol could be detrimental to your health,”

“I know,”

“Then why would you mix them together? You could-”

“Connor, one thing you need to learn about humans is that they don’t care,” She didn’t mean for it to come out as harsh as it did, unsure if it was from emotion or the alcohol, “Most humans don’t care about their own well-being. They kill themselves a little everyday, just hoping to feel something when they have nothing left. There’s been times where I’ve gotten drunk and gone driving in old junker cars hoping I crashed but I never had the strength or the desperation to do it myself so I would drown it out with alcohol,” Estelle took another drink from the bottle, sighing and looking up at the television screen, the synthetic vibrant colours reflecting on her glossy eyes, “I don’t as much anymore. I try to take care of myself a little bit but it gets hard sometimes. I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything…”

Connor wasn’t sure what to say or what to do, or if it was appropriate to do anything at all. He was designed to handle situations like this, overly emotional or mentally driven situations that could cause a person harm but there was no immediate danger. Estelle was passive, only potentially hurting herself by drinking legally with questionable medication. Connor saw a large warning in the corner of his vision, the only way to describe his artificial thought system was shock. He was in pure, unadulterated shock.

The shock could’ve come from several places, whether it was the switch between her mood a few hours ago and now, how nonchalantly she said her true feelings, or how she didn’t hesitate to do it, Connor wasn’t sure. He had no idea humans were such fragile creatures; he knew how complex humans could be and how their emotions were strong factors in who they were but he never understood the majority of the human race had that same feeling of existential dread and expandability. 

The android found himself creeping toward the couch softly, leaning to look at Stella in the face, scanning for any sign of emotion on her face. It all screamed tiredness - an emotional tiredness - and regret. Connor sat beside Estelle awkwardly, placing his hands on his lap as she turned to look at him, shocked by his actions and looking him up and down.

“I would like to understand,” Connor said, only looking up at her until after he spoke.

“W-What?”

“I would like to understand how you are feeling and why you are feeling that way,”

Stella seemed nearly appalled but in all honesty, she was in so much shock she almost forgot how to breathe. An android, asking her to explain how she felt? That’s all it took for her to break.

“Humans do anything they can to kill themselves a little faster. Drinking, drugs, sex- anything to make us feel alive! Why? Trauma, abuse, anything that can cause us to break and lose our sense of self worth and try to kill ourselves slowly when we’re too pussy to do it and get it over with!” her voice wavered, she calmed herself down at Connor’s near pitiful stare, “Don’t be alarmed, humans tend to fall apart like this behind closed doors. Hey, seeing my downfall may help your programming but don’t blame yourself, I’m entirely to blame for this - for where I am right now. I always find a way to prove I’m undeserving…”

She was beginning to trail off, falling asleep sitting up and the bottle slipping from her hand. Connor grabbed it before it fell, placing it on the end table and waking Estelle up again.

“Undeserving of what?”

“Love,” Estelle yawned, giggling as the vodka diluted itself into her bloodstream, “Nighty-night, Connor boy,”

Connor picked Stella up from the couch, bringing her to her bedroom and placing her on the bed. Immediately, she settled into the sheets and fell asleep - the alcohol must’ve hit her all at once. Connor watched over her with curiosity, another emotion filling his gaze.

No, not an emotion, it couldn’t possibly be. It was a pity, no, that’s emotion, isn’t it? It was pure curiosity. Connor began to think, to look around her bedroom and figure out his next action. He couldn’t possibly leave her alone, she has drinken so much and with that medication, what if something were to happen in her sleep? 

Staying the night would be the best option, she might need help the next morning and while he was at it, calling Lieutenant Anderson may be a good idea, to let him know she was safe. It may have been intrusive, but Connor went into Estelle’s closet, looking for attire appropriate for the next morning. When he was satisfied, he laid the clothes out on the empty side of her bed.

Walking out of her bedroom, he left her bedroom door open so he could listen for her, making sure she was okay. The house was a little messy, probably from the lack of anyone being home to fix it. There wasn’t too much to gather about her from earlier in the night, pictures littered around the house and various pieces of merchandise from her interests were all around, only confirming his earlier suspicions of her liking for sci-fi fantasy and the likes. She also had several books about androids on the shelves, as well as novels from varying genres. 

Two calendars hung on the wall with different dates marked, work hours and anniversaries, different important events marked on each; Clearly, one was Stella’s and one was Alyia’s based on the subject matter of the calendars. Connor recalled the roommate's name from earlier and was going to walk away when he noticed something on Stella’s calendar. Marked in between November 5th and 6th was a circle with “Connor” written in the middle. That was when he and Estelle had met.

【 _ Software Instability  _ ▲  】

This must’ve meant that their meeting meant something to her, something that she thought was important to remember. If Connor could’ve found it endearing, he would’ve, but he immediately found that she was dooming herself. It wouldn’t be too long until he was sent back to Cyberlife, he wasn’t a permanent fixture in her life. Ignoring the calendar, he moved to her kitchen, slightly messy from the events of earlier. 

He began to wonder why he chose to stay, why he had been spending so much time with Estelle and why he had accepted non-work related offers? He always told himself it was to further integrate with humans and do well for Cyberlife but most humans wouldn’t make such offers like she does. 

Connor’s curiosity got the best of him, what was it about this woman that made her familiar? Had she been involved in another case he had worked on? It was almost like the file he needed to find out was just out of his reach, hidden away for no one to see. He went to look into Estelle’s file again, met with an administrative password needed, one he didn’t have and would never have access to. He had access to nearly every person’s file, only allowed to look when needed, but Estelle’s specifically was blocked. If it was empty, it would’ve said so.  _ That  _ would've made sense, especially if Estelle’s lack of memory was the truth, but her information was blocked completely and the file had a lot in it. Why?

The only information he had access to was to her original “Jane Doe” case, filed in the year 2036, record of name change from said case, her application to the police academy and her records from there, and her place of residence and phone number. There was still so much to be unlocked, so much more about her to learn, why wasn’t he allowed to know about one of the people he  _ needs _ to work with?

In the time he was searching within himself, he had straightened up the house, cleaning the kitchen in the process. He wasn’t sure why he had decided to do so, perhaps so it was less draining on Estelle’s physical health in the morning? Just as he finished, he had an idea; Why not ask Amanda why her file is locked?

The Eden garden was the perfect place to go! Not only did time move differently, but Amanda could hopefully provide answers to Connor’s questions. He sat down on Estelle’s sofa, making sure to listen just in case as he made his way to his mind palace.

This time, snow fell to the ground softly, piles were already accumulated on the garden’s ground, the walkways barely touched by the synthetic weather. Connor looked around cautiously for Amanda, able to see her far off, still unnoticed by her. As per his ritual, he walked over to the glowing handpad and placed his palm upon it, watching his artificial skin dissipate to reveal his snow-white endoskeleton. Like usual, the pad made an obnoxious noise, nearly startling Connor as he backed up, still unsure of the pad’s purpose.

He backed away from the pad, walking through the near silent garden over to Amanda, adorned in a baby pink, fur lined cape to shield her from the dropping temperature. The small body of water that surrounded the garden was near frozen, glistening in the lights of the main architecture. Amanda looked nearly surprised when Connor walked up, making her turn and greet him.

“Hello, Connor,” she started, “Is there an update on what you’ve learned?”

“Not exactly,” Connor looked away quickly before looking back at his mentor, “I have some questions regarding the case,”

“What is it?”

“Why is Detective Winchester’s file locked?”

Amanda’s jaw clenched, a sour look on her face when her name was mentioned. Was there a problem with the Detective herself, or was it simply a bad question?

“You said you had questions regarding the investigation,”

“I must learn about my partner’s to further integrate myself into the DPD and make this investigation a success,” defended Connor, “I have already looked into Lieutenant Anderson’s but Estelle’s is locked. Why? I have undergone several diagnostic tests on the file and-”

“It isn’t something you need to know about,”

“It is only her file and it is completely clean, all I need is an administrative password-!”

“Goodbye, Connor,” Amanda said sharply. Connor’s eyes shot open, he was back in Estelle’s kitchen.

That entire exchange with Amanda was strange, what was in that file that they didn’t want Connor to know about? Surely, it couldn’t have been too bad. He hoped he didn’t anger Amanda too much, he wouldn’t want anything to stifle this investigation, especially getting on the bad side of his superiors. 

A distant alarm blaring and a long groan alerted Connor to Estelle waking up, obviously still hungover from the events of the night before. He stood from the kitchen chair, filling a glass of water and grabbing two ibuprofen to give to her when she walked out. Would cooking breakfast be a good idea? Connor turned from his task when he heard a small gasp, Estelle was leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen.

“Good morning, Detective!”

“What are you doing here?” Estelle held a hand to her chest, moving it to her head, “Not that I’m not glad you’re here, of course, but-”

“Last night, you called me to come pick you up from Xian’s after you drunkenly left Crooked Time with him,” Connor saw Estelle’s face turn red, “I had brought you home and made sure you were safe,”

“Did you stay the night?”

“I needed to make sure you would be okay throughout the night,” he confessed, “Being alone after taking that medication and mixing it with alcohol is never a good idea, so I decided to stay and make sure you were okay throughout the night. I hope you don’t mind,”

“It’s okay,” Estelle stuttered, sitting down at the kitchen table and taking the ibuprofen, “Thank you, really, that means a lot to me,”

“It’s nothing, Detective,”

“Slipping into that again?” Estelle chuckled, “Stella,”

“Right, I apologise. My superiors think it's unprofessional to be on a first-name basis with my partners,”

“Well, fuck your superiors,” Stella said, grabbing a box of cereal from the cupboard, “They’re lame. In  _ my _ house, we call each other homies,”

“‘Homies’?”

“Nevermind,” Estelle could help but smile at his antics, the way his head tilted at his question, “Thanks again. I’m gonna head in the shower before work. You want me to bring you or are you gonna go in early?”

“I think I’ll head in early,” Connor said, “Thank you. Will you be okay, you seemed to have bounced back rather quickly from your hangover?”

“I’ll be fine, I tend to bounce back quickly! I’ll see you at the office!”

“See you soon, Stella,” Connor nodded, walking out of the door and calling a taxi.

Internally, Stella tried to figure out why Connor stayed. Anyone other than Alyia would’ve left not long after she fell asleep, yet he stayed the whole night to make sure she was okay. It didn’t bother her but it certainly caused her to question it. Surely androids didn’t have a moral compass, unless Connor was beginning to deviate?

That made no sense, it was very obvious he was the farthest thing from deviant. It rattled her brain, she couldn’t just say he was a nice, considerate person because that would require him to deviate. She was beginning to think that the case of the potential deviant was more interesting than most of the cases that made it onto her desk. 


	10. ⚙︎ Chapter Ten: Sub-Zero ⚙

**_【_ ** **_November 8th, 2021, 02:36_ ** **_】_ **

Keys jiggled in the lock of the front door, the alarm turning off automatically as Connor’s hand touched the pad. Estelle giggled incoherently as she leaned against his shoulder, struggling to keep her balance. Connor then put his arm under hers, leading her to the sofa in the living room. A night of drinking with Elijah Kamski never ends with any sobriety left.

Connor had been graciously chosen by Estelle to experiment his new abilities in a real public setting, being taken to a party at a pub to try and blend in with the common human, doing so only half successfully. Since he had no prior experience around people to build up his ability to blend in, he stood rather awkwardly, unsure how to interact with humans. Thankfully, Estelle was forgiving and understanding but Connor knew he should’ve been able to do better despite his lack of experience. 

“Miss O’Cassidy-”

“Stellaaaaa~!” she corrected.

“-Stella. I would advise you to go to sleep as soon as possible.”

“But I wanna watch TV!”

Connor shook his head as he walked to her bedroom, grabbing a pair of pyjamas from her dresser drawer and bringing it back to the living room. He handed them to her, neatly folded and clean. He wasn’t expecting her to start changing right there but she wasn’t exactly sober, so he turned around toward the kitchen and hid his face from view.

【 _ Software Instability ~  _ 】

It was strange, not just Estelle’s change in demeanour since drinking but in her demeanour overall. Others who knew he was a prototypical android would look at him with such disgust or confusion, she looks at him as  _ someone _ . A  _ person  _ worth something just like everyone else. Although she still treats him like the prototype he is, she treats him with humanity and kindness, like if he were a friend she had known for years, even in her drunken state.

“Why are you still in that stiff outfit?” Estelle looked over from the sofa, giggling through her sentences, “C’mon, try on those pyjamas I got you, I wanna see if they fit!” 

On the bar counter sat a neatly tied package of fabric, navy blue in colour and finished with a bow. It wasn’t a special occasion for such a gift, but still Connor could tell Estelle had tied it herself because of the small bit of fabric ribbon that stuck in the knot, something only she was able to manage to do within a simple task. He took this opportunity to use the “humour” mechanism he was told about earlier.

“How do you manage to make such a simple task into such a beautiful disaster, Stella?” Connor chuckled, examining the small bundle, “It’s only tying a knot,”

“Sir, you know literally  _ every  _ type of knot known to mankind, you have no right to judge my feeble human abilities,” 

They both laughed and Connor went into the bathroom of the home to try on the garments Estelle insisted he try. If he could have an opinion, he would quite like them. The fit, the fabric, the colour, like it was crafted to fit him and his personality if he were to have one. 

“Thank you again, Stella,”

“Don’t thank me, now come over here and watch this with me!” Stella waved him over frantically toward the sofa, “Oh, they look good, how do you feel?”

“Great, actually,”

Wait,  _ what  _ did he say?

Stella didn’t even flinch at his response, only opening her arms to accept him into a spot of the couch. He had just given an opinion, something that he as an android should not have. Connor sat down, her arms snaking around his waist as he began to get lost in his own thoughts. 

Had he failed? Was he defective or was it a mindless response like most humans give as a response to being asked how they are? He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but he felt like he had jumped into sub-zero waters, cold overtaking his skin and sending him into a metaphorical shock. 

Stella’s light snores took Connor out of his thoughts, turning to her sleeping figure and smiling out of habit. When she slept is when she looked truly peaceful, unbothered by the many experiments and blueprints needed to be made or the responsibilities needed to be tended to. Giving in to his human thoughts, he desired nothing more than to alleviate some of these burdens, just enough to see her smile more than he already did. 

【 _ Software Instability  _ ▲ 】

Perhaps that was the beginning of his deviancy, or perhaps it was when he lightly kissed the top of her head, pulling her closer to him in a nonsensical desire. These feelings, these desires he wasn’t designed to have were beginning to plague his systems and if he had to hide it in order to fulfil them, he was determined. He would endure the potential and impossible pain of silent yearning, a yearning that shouldn’t be possible. Connor tried to deny it but no matter how hard he tried or how many times he cleaned his systems, they remained. He knew the beginning of the end was right in front of his face and maybe his denial made it worse. 


	11. ⚙︎ Chapter Eleven: Able To Believe ⚙

**_【_ ** **_November 8th, 2038, 16:06_ ** **_】_ **

Hank was becoming increasingly irritated by the small noises surrounding him, Connor’s coin flicking between his fingers and Estelle tapping her foot on the elevator floor. They were only on the 56th floor, meaning he’d go nuts before they reached the top. He harshly grabbed the coin from Connor, stuffing it in his pocket.

“You’re starting to piss me off with that coin, Connor,”

“Sorry, Lieutenant,” Connor said, looking back toward the door. 

It was Estelle’s first time in Stratford tower, only being near the building for viewing purposes and never needing to go inside. This trip so far has shown her more of the building than she has ever seen before, observing keenly around the scenes and concluding that so far, she knew who was behind this. Even still, she had a job to do.

The elevator doors opened, several different officers of different departments and hazmat officers littered the hallway, speaking and exchanging reports and information about the case. More were in the broadcast room, looking around at the evidence and taking countless photos for records.

“Shit, what’s goin’ on here?” Hank sauntered out of the elevator, “What, there was a party and nobody told us about it?”

“Yeah, it’s all over the news, so everyone’s butting their nose in. Even the FBI wants a piece of the action,” 

“Exactly what we fuckin’ need, Hank, more primitive assholes on our backs,” Estelle sighed, cracked her neck and waved Connor along, “C’mon, Police Roomba,”

Connor listened to Chris and Hank’s debriefing, observing several parts of the hallway as he walked, noticing Estelle staring up at the camera in front of the first doorway. He found it odd, she had been quiet, not a snarky comment made the whole debriefing. She looked down at a body, lying lifelessly on the floor from a feeble attempt to get away.

“Shot in the back as he was trying to get away,” said Chris, “Shot through the heart at fifty feet. That’s the type of shooting only an android could do,”

“Well, that’s why we’re here, aren’t we?” Estelle nodded at Hank and Chris, “I’m looking ahead, catch up when you can, Hank,”

Hank nodded in acknowledgement, Estelle swaggered into the broadcast room, the huge screen lit up from the previous, hijacked broadcast. Connor listened to the debriefing while watching her walk away, his instincts told him to follow her, he had heard enough to help the investigation go along smoothly.

【 _ Software Instability ~  _ 】

The broadcasting room was filled with various pieces of evidence Connor needed to look at, to bullet holes in the wall to videos of the perpetrators. Although, his focus fell to Estelle staring up at the still screen of the previously hijacked broadcast. Hank walked into the room as Connor stood next to Estelle, leaning over slightly to be able to keep his voice down.

Her eyes held something, an emotion nearly unreadable, a mix of sadness and maybe curiosity. The quietness from her today was almost unsettling, he was used to her being so snarky and even extroverted, even if all of the times they’ve been together haven’t been very smooth. He wondered if the night before had deterred her or if the current case was emotionally damaging for her.

“Are you okay, Stella?”

Estelle did a double-take away from the screen, looking at Connor and nodding firmly before looking back up at the screen, folding her arms and shifting her weight to one foot.

“Yeah, I’m alright, why?” Her brows furrowed together through her sentence, wondering why Connor was so worried about her.

“You seem upset, you’ve been quiet today,” Connor looked up at the screen, “Just wanted to make sure,”

“I’ve been quiet?” Stella turned back to Connor sighing lightly, “I guess you’re right. This is going to sound crazy but I just feel like something’s going to happen while we’re here. Something  _ always _ happens when we’re around,”

“It certainly seems that way, doesn’t it?” Connor signalled her to follow him, walking toward Hank and away from the screen, “What do you mean by ‘something’?”

“Just...something. Not good but not bad- Well, maybe it is bad! I wouldn’t know, my sixth sense isn’t exactly in tune,”

“I assure you, I will try my very best to secure you and Lieutenant Anderson’s safety, no matter the cost,” he leaned down slightly to meet her eyes, “If you don’t mind, later I’d like for you to explain what the human ‘sixth sense’ is from a more personal and in-depth perspective. My resources only give me so much,”

“Sure, if you’re willing to spend the time with me,” Stella joked slightly but turned to him, suddenly serious, “Why do you check on me so much?”

Connor’s brows shot up momentarily, caught off-guard by her question. If he was honest, he wasn’t sure of the answer. Was it how familiar she was, his duty as her temporary partner, or knowing that Hank trusted him to keep her safe with his life?

“I’m sorry?”

“Why do you check on me so much? You ask me if I’m okay and notice when I’m being off more than an emotion-filled human being does, why is that?”

They both stayed silent, Connor unable to give an answer for once in his short lifespan. Their gazes at each other turned intense, a tension filling the air despite being on the 79th story of the building. All there was in their vision was each other, their intense gazes each trying to find something they wouldn’t be able to find by asking. It was as though the case had disappeared completely, long-forgotten before the android became speechless.

“Why?”

Hank called their names, catching their attention and making them remember the case at hand. Estelle gave one last glace before cocking her head towards Hank, signalling to follow her. Hank was standing with Chris and another man, a sour-looking man with an all-too-familiar smug look on his face. 

“Lieutenant, Detective, this is Special Agent Perkins from the FBI,” Chris started, “Lieutenant Anderson and Detective Winchester are in charge of investigating for the Detroit Police,”

Estelle nodded in his direction, watching his gaze shift from her over to Connor, who walked over from looking over a screen to oversee the introduction and who was involved with the investigation. She saw the sour look turn worse, his eyes looking Connor up and down sharply before scoffing under his breath slightly.

“What’s that?”

“My name is Connor, I’m the android sent by Cyberlife,”

“Androids investigating androids, huh?” Perkins looked to Hank, “You sure you want an android hanging around? After everything that happened?”

“You sure you wanna run your mouth, Agent?” Estelle stepped forward defensively, Hank put an arm out to stop her stepping any farther, scolding her to take it easy.

“You get her under control,”

“I’ll-”

“Detective.” Connor insisted, hoping to stop her from making any rash decisions. Thankfully, after looking between the two, she stepped down, biting the inside of her lip against her better nature.

“Whatever, the FBI will take over investigations, you’ll soon be off the case,”

“Pleasure meeting you, have a nice day,” 

“And you watch your step. Don’t fuck up my crime scene.”

Estelle nearly bit her lip till it bled at that, watching Perkins walk away with venom dripping from her gaze.

Hank mumbled under his breath to Connor and Estelle, “What a fuckin’ prick-”

“You hear that shit? He probably looked into us, the fuckin’ dick!”

“You think?”

“I  _ know _ , Hank! He’s a fuckin’ weirdo!” Estelle shivered dramatically, “I could do with never seeing him again, he makes me feel weird.”

The investigation went mostly quiet between the three, Connor mentioning the cameras in the hall and that the deviants didn’t break-in. Next, Estelle suggested they watch the speech over, out of pure curiosity and seeing if the motives were hostile.

“If it wasn’t hostile, there can’t be that heavy of a case!”

“Estelle, they shot people,” Hank said.

“They’re also androids,” added Connor.

“I-I forgot, sorry, but if it’s for liberation, we’re just living the civil rights movement all over again! Don’t get me started on the BLM riots of 2020-”

“Turn on the speech, Connor,” Hank sighed, not even wanting to remember the past of the early 2020s. 

Connor pressed the screen, all of their eyes focused on the large screen. 

“ _ We ask that you recognise our dignity, our hopes and our rights. Together, we can live in peace and build a better future, for humans and for androids. This message is the hope of a people. You gave us life and now the time has come for you to give us freedom.” _

“Think that’s rA9?”

Hank’s question lingered in the air, hanging above their heads like a teasing cloud waiting to be grabbed. It wasn’t for sure if that android was rA9, but certainly, there was a correlation.

“Deviants say rA9 will set them free. This android seems to have that objective,” Connor stared at the screen again, staring blanking before coming back to earth, “I identified its model and its serial number,”

Estelle stood up straight now, uncomfortable from Connor’s admission but also from his reaction, almost personal as a slight look of shock covered his features. Hank noticed this and tried to get a better view of his face, hypothesising in his mind.

“Anything else I should know?”

It took him a second to realise he was being spoken to, doing a double-take toward Hank and shaking his head.

“N-No, nothing.”

Hank dropped it, moving to a different part of the scene. It was strange how Connor was acting today, blending in and acting more human with experience was part of his program but this seemed more than just an awkward phase between bits of experience. Even a machine with great acting skills couldn’t fake the emotion swimming in his eyes while listening to that speech.

“Are you alright, Connor?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You seem…” Estelle stopped herself, “Nevermind. I’m going to head up to the roof-”

“I’ll go with you!”

Now  _ that _ seemed emotional.

Estelle turned back slowly, looking toward Connor slightly confused. He straightened his tie, nodding firmly to cover up his small outburst. 

“I think it would be best for me to go with you, Stella, especially with your sixth sense,”

“You believe in that?”

“I believe there has to be some truth to it,” Connor began while walking with Estelle to the stairwell, “There are too many correlations between incidents and someone mentioning it beforehand without being anywhere near the premises and having an alibi. While it may not be a literal sixth sense, I think it may be an old animalistic trait not yet forced out by evolution,”

“I suppose that’s one way to look at it,” Estelle smiled, nudging Connor’s arm slightly, “If that’s what you  _ believe _ ,”

Estelle bolted up the stairs, chuckling as she ran away. Connor wasn’t sure of the purpose until he realised he said he  _ believed _ in something. It wasn’t possible for him to  _ believe _ in anything, what had possessed him to say such a thing? Despite it, Connor smiled to himself, hurrying up the stairs and following to where Estelle could’ve gone.

Hank caught up to Connor just as he had opened the door to the roof, the cold, thin air smacking them in the face harshly in comparison to the warm building. The first things in view were a duffle bag and snowy footprints and Hank went to look inside the duffle bag. 

“They made their way through the whole building, past  _ all _ the guards, and jumped off the roof with parachutes. Pretty fuckin’ impressive, I’d say,” admitted Hank, laughing breathily while looking in the duffle, “They did all of this and they miscounted the number of parachutes,”

Connor leaned down, sampling a bit of the blue blood pooled onto the ground, waiting for it to process as he stood up. This sample of blue blood was the same as the one who was shot in the broadcasting room, Connor gathered that the wounded android didn’t jump. Is this what the sixth sense felt like?

“Unless they didn’t,” Just as Connor said that a gunshot and a shout of agony echoed through the area, similar to that of Estelle. 

【 _ Software Instability  _ ▼ 】

Hank and Connor looked at each other for barely a moment before they sprung into action, running toward the source of the shout. A small pool and trail of red blood stained the snow, Estelle laid on her back hissing in pain and one of the deviants aimed a handgun in the general direction forward. Before he could think, Connor rolled forward, dragging Estelle by the torso behind a metal container for cover. Hank ran to meet them, panicking at the sight of his partner.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Stella, are you okay?” Hank noticed the blood staining her clothes slowly, pooling from the wound in her shoulder and began to panic, “Jesus Christ-”

“I’m fine,” Stella tried to stand, about to run out despite her injury, ”I got him-!”

Hank pulled her down, making her sit on the snow behind the container and yelled at her, asking her if she was insane, not noticing the determined look on Connor’s face as he planned his next move of action toward the deviant.

“Neither of you better go out there!”

Connor bolted, dodging the deviant’s bullets with precision and ease. He was determined to catch the deviant, to make sure it didn’t get away for hurting Estelle, for hindering his mission. He slammed the deviant against the container, accidentally connecting to it’s memory and seeing a word; Jericho.

The next thing he saw was nothing, inky blackness as he  _ felt _ something. The gunshot reverberated in his ears, a disturbing reminder of the action just taken. His whole body went cold, a horrible shiver sent down his spine and a disgusting, warm feeling down the front of his throat despite the lack of substance there to create it. His stomach dropped and bile rose in his throat without it existing and felt the end, a sudden ending to a life not even his, stepping back and staring in horror as the body dropped, knowing he  _ felt everything _ . The sickening shot, the feeling of helplessness and the acceptance in the face of death, the fear of dying and the fear of a  _ friend  _ dying, the hope of people’s liberation; he felt everything and he felt  _ scared. _

“Connor, Connor, you all right? Connor!”

“Okay…” Connor couldn’t find any other words, unable to form a cohesive sentence from shock.

“Are you hurt?”

“I-I’m okay…”

“Jesus…” Hanked sighed, grabbing at his hair from stress, “For fucks sake, I told you not to move! Why do you  _ or _ Stella never do what I say?”

“I was connected to its memory,” Hank furrowed his brows slightly, noticing Connor lean back on the metal behind him like he was about to faint, “When it fired, I-I felt it die… L-Like I was dying. I was scared…”

Hank stared at him, waiting for him to continue. 

“I saw something in its memory, a word painted on a piece of rusty metal; Jericho,” Connor remembered the circumstance, standing up and moving toward the metal they were hiding behind, “Where’s Stella?”

“Already being taken to the hospital as we speak, don’t remind me,” Hank started to speedwalk toward the stairs, “We’re gonna meet her over there, c’mon,”

“I’m not sure they’ll let me in, Lieutenant,”

“Just lie and say it's for the case or somethin’, she needs us - both of us.

Despite Hank of all people saying that Connor wasn’t able to believe it. Deep down, he  _ hoped  _ it was true. Although now he was able to believe anything at this point, seeing as he remembered something from years before his activation while connected to that deviant. 


End file.
